The US military has conducted its first airstrikes against Taliban militants in Afghanistan after President Barack Obama gave authorization earlier this month to expand American involvement against the militants.
“There have been operations carried out with these new authorities,” Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said Friday. “It’s fair to say that these strikes did target Taliban positions.”
Cook added that the strikes occurred in southern Afghanistan, but he did not provide additional details.
In early June, Obama decided to expand America’s military involvement in Afghanistan with more airstrikes against Taliban militants, giving the US military more authority to support Afghan forces.
The US military spokesman in the Afghan capital Kabul, Brigadier General Charles Cleveland, said American forces “have conducted a limited number of strikes under these new authorities” but that it is “too early to quantify the effects achieved.”
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