U.S. Strikes More Than 20 Taliban Targets After Cease-Fire Ends by Phillip Walter Wellman - Stars & Stripes
KABUL, Afghanistan - U.S. forces in Afghanistan conducted more than 20 airstrikes against the Taliban on Saturday after an unprecedented unilateral cease-fire ended.
The strikes took place in Ghazni, Helmand and Uruzgan provinces, according to Army Lt. Col. Martin O’Donnell, spokesman for U.S. Forces-Afghanistan. The Afghan Air Force also conducted at least two independent strikes since the midnight end of the cease-fire, he said.
Afghan and U.S. forces had no choice but to resume fighting after the Taliban chose not to extend a short cease-fire it declared earlier this month, said Gen. Mohammad Radmanish, acting spokesman for the Defense Ministry.
“We have more than nine places throughout the country where we’ve started the continuation of our military operations,” Radmanish said Saturday morning, referring solely to Afghan operations.
Both sides of the conflict laid down their arms over the three-day Islamic holiday of Eid al-Fitr, the first such move since the nearly 17-year war began…