US Army Afghanistan

US Army

US-led forces had to call in an airstrike on a medical facility — which was being renovated to provide better care for the local Afghan people — to stop a Taliban assault on Bagram Airfield.

The Taliban had "badly damaged" the facility in the initial assault, during which suicide bombers killed two Afghan civilians and wounded 70 others.

US-led forces issued a warning to the locals and then called in an airstrike on the clinic, where the Taliban insurgents had taken up position.

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US-led forces called in an airstrike Wednesday on a medical facility being built to provide care for the local Afghan people to stop a Taliban assault at Bagram Air Base, the largest US military base in Afghanistan, according to NATO's Resolute Support.

Taliban insurgents targeted the medical facility, striking with a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device that killed two Afghan civilians and wounded around 70 more people.

"The attack was quickly contained and repelled by our [Afghan National Defense and Security Forces] and Coalition partners, but the future medical facility was badly damaged," Resolute Support said.

After failing to break through the wire at Bagram Air Base, the remaining Taliban fighters dug into positions inside the clinic.

Unable to drive away the Taliban insurgents after roughly 10 hours of fighting, US-led forces conducted a series of airstrikes on the medical facility. The Taliban fighters, some of whom were said to be wearing explosive vests, were killed with a precision munition.

"Coalition forces, in coordination with Afghan Security Forces, informed local residents and blocked off the area before conducting these airstrikes to ensure their safety," Resolute Support said in a statement.

The battle highlights the immense challenges the US and its partner forces face in Afghanistan to defeat a strong Taliban insurgency while also bolstering the Afghan government and improving services for its citizens.

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This week, The Washington Post published a collection of more than 2,000 pages of confidential notes from government interviews with over 400 officials that had direct involvement in the war.

These documents, collectively called the "Afghanistan Papers," present clearly what many observers have long suspected, that the US went into Afghanistan without a clear plan and misled the public about the war's progress.

At a Pentagon press briefing Thursday, defense officials continued to insist that progress has been made but refused to provide any specific examples.

On Friday, US negotiators announced they were taking a "brief pause" from peace talks with the Taliban in the wake of Wednesday's attack.

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