Several days after the US and Taliban sign a ceasefire deal, the U.S. Military struck the Taliban fighters with an airstrike, said a US forces official after President Trump talked to a senior Taliban on the line.
Colonel Sonny Leggett was quoted as saying on social media: "The US conducted an air strike on March 4 against Taliban fighters in Nahr-e Saraj, Helmand, who were actively attacking an ANDSF [Afghan National Defence and Security Forces] checkpoint." He added to his post, it was a 'defensive strike' against aggressive Taliban members.
A raid that was done as a 'defensive move' to deter attacks against Afghan soldiers (ANDSF) after signing a deal 11 days ago. This deal is supposed to stop hostile action against the Taliban, to end the Afghan war that has raged for 19 years from 2001.
In the agreement with the United States, Taliban leaders gave their vow to end the conflict according to Leggett, when they signed the deal in Doha, Qatari on February 29 last Sunday.
The US commander said that Taliban fighter was actively attacking all the 43 checkpoints in Helmand on Tuesday despite their promises according to the agreement.
Provincial Police official Mohammad Zaman Hamdard told AFP news that in the past 48 hours, the Taliban conducted a provocative attack against the local forces. He also added that their targets were several districts and many military bases.
On Wednesday, the Taliban went on the offensive and killed 20 Afghan soldiers and policemen, in overnight attacks, government authorities related to the AFP news outlet.
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One of the members of the provincial council, Safiullah Amiri said that in one night, the Taliban struck three army positions in the Imam Sahib district of Kunduz last night. Fatalities were 10 soldiers and 4 police officers.
Another Taliban attack targeted police in the central Uruzgan province on Tuesday night. Moreover, another incident included a prisoner exchange dispute, even before the scheduled talks on March 10.
The Doha agreement was a product of more than a year of negotiations which sets the state for US and NATO to pull out from Afghanistan, with a vow that the Taliban will not attack other countries.
Last Tuesday, President Trump had a good talk with a senior Taliban leader, which serves as the first meeting between a US leader and a 'senior' Taliban official.
The Taliban chief negotiator, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, and President Trump discussed things in a 35-minute call, a Taliban representative said. It was confirmed later by White House reporters.
Trump informed Baradar that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will talk to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to get things moving with inter-Afghan relations.
During the prisoner swap, several people were dead on Monday in football stadium blast on Khost province, caused President Ghani's rejection of the prisoner swap deal.
The Taliban is not expected to comply until prisoners are released, nor talk to the Ghani regime. Whether another U.S. military airstrike comes as a defensive posture, or whether the deals pull through is in the air.
