US forces killed 20 Taliban fighters during airstrikes in Nangarhar province today in the latest in a series of attacks along the Pakistani border.
The US military targeted “a large group of militants” with “precision airstrikes” in the mountains of the Deh Bala district in Nangarhar, a press release from Combined Joint Task Force – 101 reported. Intelligence report indicated the Taliban were operating in the area. Geo TV reported 20 Taliban were killed in the attack.
Nangarhar is home to Tora Bora, the location of the last major battle between US and Afghan allies, and the Taliban and al Qaeda in the winter of 2002. Osama bin Laden and numerous senior al Qaeda leaders slipped the cordon and escaped into Pakistan.
The Deh Bala district borders the lawless Khyber tribal agency in Pakistan. Pakistani forces claim to be conducting an operation to root out extremists laying siege to Peshawar, but peace talks between the Lashkar-e-Islam and the government began just six days after the operation began.
The attack in Nangarhar is the latest in a series of engagements with company-sized Taliban forces in eastern Afghanistan. On July 4, the US military said it killed 16 Taliban fighters after an attack on a base in Kunar province, which borders Nangarhar to the north. The governor of Kunar claimed Afghan civilians were killed in the airstrike, and President Hamid Karzai has called for an investigation.
The Afghan Army and police and the US military have repelled a series of attacks in the border provinces of Paktia, Paktika, and Khost over the past three weeks. The Taliban are attempting to destabilize the eastern region and overrun Afghan government centers. Attacks in the east are up by more than 40 percent from last year, according to the US military. More than 200 Taliban fighters have been killed during the clashes. Many of the attacks have originated from Pakistan.