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Taliban Didn’t Shoot at US Forces in Afghanistan this Quarter

20 August 2020

The Taliban didn’t conduct a single attack against U.S. or coalition forces over three months this spring, according to a new report from the Defense Department Inspector General, an almost miraculous occurrence given the uptick in violence against Afghan security forces since the signing of the U.S.-Taliban peace agreement in February.

According to Keshwarnews quoting taskandpurpose, the new IG report covering the time period of April 1 through June 30, U.S. Forces-Afghanistan claimed that the Taliban “did not conduct any attacks against U.S. or coalition forces this quarter” in line with the February 29th agreement between the U.S. and the militant group.

While the reported reduction in violence led to a resulting 80 percent decrease in airstrikes conducted by U.S. and coalition forces over that same period, the Pentagon reported that the Taliban had in fact increased its attacks on Afghan National Defense and Security Forces and Afghan government officials.

In addition, the Taliban “did not appear to uphold its commitment to distance itself from terrorist organizations in Afghanistan,” according to the report, which notes that UN and U.S. officials “reported that the Taliban continued to support al-Qaeda, and conducted joint attacks with al-Qaeda members” against the ANDSF.

With the U.S. down to less than 8,600 troops in Afghanistan as of June, the reported reduction in violence may seem like a flash of good news amid the long march of the war in Afghanistan — a sign that the Taliban, at least partially, have stopped targeting U.S. service members amid the Pentagon’s latest attempt to extricate itself from the Forever War.

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