Kabul: A key Taliban leader was killed in US led airstrikes in Afghanistan’s southern province of Helmand on Sunday. This has been confirmed by Afghan officials and Taliban.
Helmand provincial governor Mohammad Yasin Khan confirmed that Abdul Hanan, who was in-charge of Helmand for Taliban, was killed along with 29 other militants by airstrikes on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Taliban has called Hanan’s death a ”big loss” but said that it would not affect their operations. On the other hand, confirming the Taliban leader’s death, US military said that Afghan forces had gone on to the offensive with US military support in order to push the terror organisation to talks.
The incident has occurred at a time when Afghanistan and Western-backed security forces are vying to put an end to the 17-year war. US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad recently concluded his meet with Taliban representatives and expressed hopes that a peace deal could be finalised before Afghan elections in April 2019. Despite the peace talks, both Taliban and US forces have not slowed down fighting against each other.
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Kalinga AI