US conducts first airstrike against Taliban since peace deal; spokesperson calls act 'defensive' to prevent assault on Afghan forces

Kabul: The US on Wednesday conducted its first airstrike against Taliban forces in Afghanistan since signing an ambitious peace deal with the militant group. US military spokesman Col. Sonny Leggett said in a tweet that the “defensive” strike was the first US attack against the militants in 11 days. He said the attack was to counter a Taliban assault on Afghan government forces in Nahr-e Saraj in the southern Helmand province. Leggett added that Taliban forces had conducted 43 attacks on Afghan troops on Tuesday in Helmand. According to a spokesman for the province’s governor, Omer Zwak, at least two police officers were killed and one other wounded in the Washir district of southern Helmand. [caption id=“attachment_7260871” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Security forces in Afghanistan. Representational image. AP[/caption] Leggett called on the Taliban to stop the attacks and uphold their commitments based on the peace agreement signed on Feb. 29 between their leaders and U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad in Doha, Qatar, which lays out a conditions-based path to the withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan. President Donald Trump confirmed Tuesday that he spoke on the phone to a Taliban leader, making him the first US president believed to have ever spoken directly with the militant group responsible for the deaths of thousands of US troops in nearly 19 years of fighting in Afghanistan. The Afghan Interior Ministry says that four civilians and 11 troops were killed Wednesday in a wave of Taliban attacks across the country in the past 24 hours. According to ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi, Afghan forces killed at least 17 Taliban during these clashes. The Afghan Defense Ministry earlier said that seven soldiers were killed when Taliban attacked a checkpoint in northern Kunduz province. Kandahar police spokesman Jamal Naser Barekzai told The Associated Press that a police officer was killed and one wounded in a string of Taliban attacks across the province. The Taliban have not claimed responsibility for any of these attacks so far or commented on the US airstrike Wednesday. However, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told the AP Wednesday that a week of reduction in violence that started midnight on 21 Feb had ended. Based on the US-Taliban deal, peace negotiations between the warring Afghan sides are supposed to begin on 10 March. However, the Afghan government has already rejected releasing Taliban prisoners ahead of launching the talks, a precondition which the militants say was part of the U.S. agreement. Leggett said that US forces are responsible for defending their Afghan allies according to agreements between US and Afghan governments.