US Airstrikes Target Taliban, Military Equipment in Afghanistan 

The United States has launched about a “half-dozen” airstrikes across Afghanistan in the past 30 days, part of an effort to support Afghan security forces attempting to hold the Taliban at bay. "There's no switch that was turned on. There's no change in policy" the official says of the half dozen airstrikes in support of #Afghan forces in the past monthSays it is part of the US 'over-the-horizon' capabilities - "You're seeing it come to fruition" US air support for #Afghanistan security forces - "Those authorities still exist" per @PentagonPresSec Says they still rest with @Commander_RS Gen Miller and will transfer to @CENTCOM Cmdr Gen McKenzie while withdrawal is ongoing

A U.S. defense official told VOA on Thursday that the strikes, most of them carried by U.S. drones, targeted “captured military equipment that the Taliban [were] able to seize from the ANDSF [Afghan National Defense and Security Forces]." "There were enemy forces, enemy personnel targeted" alongside the captured equipment, the official added, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the information. For days, Afghan civilians have claimed to have seen U.S. military aircraft, with some reports suggesting the U.S. was behind airstrikes in Kandahar, where Taliban forces had been advancing.