Taliban launches Afghanistan offensive after US pullout deadline

The armed group launches assaults across Afghanistan after a missed US deadline to withdraw troops.

Afghanistan’s security forces have fought back a Taliban offensive in southern Helmand province, officials and residents have said, as the armed group launched assaults around the country after a missed United States deadline to withdraw troops. Attaullah Afghan, the head of Helmand’s provincial council, said the Taliban had launched its offensive on Monday from multiple directions. The group attacked checkpoints around the outskirts of the provincial capital, Lashkar Gah, taking over some of them, he said. Afghan security forces had carried out air strikes and deployed elite commando forces to the area. The group had been pushed back but fighting was continuing on Tuesday and hundreds of families had been displaced, he added.