US A-10 aircraft menace Taliban in fight for Afghan city
 

US A-10 aircraft menace Taliban in fight for Afghan city
By: Travis J. Tritten - May 15, 2018 09:54 AM
RE: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/p...or-afghan-city

Photo link of AF A-10: https://mediadc.brightspotcdn.com/di...ym181-007a.JPG
Afghan security forces were on the offensive in the western city of Farah with backing from Air Force A-10s and other aircraft, according to the U.S.-led NATO coalition, despite reports that the provincial governor fled the city amid a Taliban invasion.
(U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Kevin Tanenbaum/Released)

U.S. air support was called in Tuesday to help Afghan security forces in a fight with the Taliban over a provincial capital in Afghanistan.

Afghan security forces were on the offensive in the western city of Farah with backing from Air Force A-10s and other aircraft, according to the U.S.-led NATO coalition, despite reports that the provincial governor fled the city amid a Taliban invasion.

“Farah city remains under govt. control,” the Resolute Support coalition tweeted Tuesday morning.

The attack on the city about 100 miles from the Iran border comes amid rising Taliban violence including deadly bombings in the Afghan capital Kabul and President Trump’s new strategy to force the group to the negotiating table.

Gov. Basir Salangi fled the city of about 50,000 people after Taliban assault began at around 2 a.m., the New York Times reported.

The group had made prior attempts to capture the provincial capital of Kunduz but was repelled by U.S. and Afghan forces.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has maintained that violence and U.S. progress in defeating the Taliban go hand in hand, and that the group is resorting to attacks because it cannot win elections.