Guided rocket strike in Afghanistan killed 50 Taliban leaders, Pentagon says

A US rocket artillery strike last week on a gathering of Taliban leaders in southern Afghanistan killed at least 50 of them, a US military official said Tuesday.

Lieutenant Colonel Martin O’Donnell, a spokesman for the US-led coalition in Afghanistan, said a weapon system known as the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, which is capable of firing GPS-guided rockets, destroyed a command-and-control position that was a known meeting place for high-level Taliban leaders. He said at least 50 leaders were killed.

Additional, unspecified numbers of Taliban officials were killed in US air strikes over a recent 10-day period, the spokesman said.

The May 24 rocket artillery attack in the Musa Qala district of Helmand province was announced by the US military last week, but without a public estimate of the numbers killed.

O’Donnell said that because of the large number of leaders killed and their involvement in a range of attack planning, the impact of the HIMARS strike “will be felt beyond Helmand province.” He called it an example of how the US military is using expanded authorities granted as part of the Trump administration’s new regional strategy for fighting the Afghanistan war, allowing US forces to take a more active role in combat.

US officials have sought to compel the Taliban to enter peace talks by increasing the military pressure on them.