US Military Killed More Than 70 Taliban Leaders in Afghanistan This Month Alone
Just last week alone, U.S. Marines in Afghanistan have eliminated more than 50 Taliban commanders using rocket artillery, according to a top American general on Wednesday, May 30. That makes for a total of more than 70 Taliban leaders killed this month alone as the U.S. ramps up operations in Afghanistan.
The war to take the ISIS strongholds in Iraq and Syria are now winding down, which means that the U.S. military can now afford to step up the pressure elsewhere. In April alone, U.S. forces have sent out 562 airstrikes in Afghanistan, more than those deployed in Iraq and Syria over the last two months.
The intensified effort paid off last week when U.S. Marines, who were tracking dozens of Taliban leaders in the contested Helmand Province, were able to pick them off at their meeting using rocket artillery, according to Army Gen. John Nicholson via Fox News.
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"Helmand has been the financial engine of the insurgency. The Taliban draws 60 percent of their revenue from narcotics (and) criminal activity," Nicholson said. Most of the U.S. military's airstrike targets earlier this month were focused on Taliban drug laboratories.
Among those killed in the rocket strike last week were more than 50 Taliban commanders, including a deputy of the Taliban shadow governor of Helmand, according to Nicholson's statement. Other Taliban leaders from six provinces outside of Helmand were reportedly wiped out as well while they were meeting in the Musa Qala district.
Multiple regional governors, intelligence leaders and provincial leaders of the Taliban who had traveled from Kandahar, Kunduz, Herat, Farah and Uruzgan provinces, as well as those already waiting in Helmand, were all killed in the past week's attacks that started since May 17.
Earlier this month, air strikes from drones and A-10 Warthog jets launched from neighboring Kandahar by the U.S. Air Force took down another twenty Taliban leaders. These additional air power arrived in the area earlier in 2018 along with thousands of American troops on the grounds.
"I would not call it strategic significance, but it definitively has a significant local significance in terms of the fight in southern Afghanistan," Nicholson said, noting that even this number of Taliban commanders removed from their leadership may not be enough to cripple Taliban operations in Afghanistan as a whole.
Even then, the strikes are expected to unbalance the Taliban leadership, at least. "These strikes represent one of the largest blows to Taliban leadership in the last year," Gen. Nicholson said.
"The cumulative effects of which will be felt nationwide for quite some time," he added, as quoted by The Washington Times. Gen. Nicholson is currently heading an operation called "Resolute Support," at least until his two-year tour in Afghanistan winds down later this year.
"As we continue the season of fighting and talking, we will continue to increase pressure on the Taliban and remain vigilant to opportunities for negotiated peace," the general noted.
