Tom Vanden Brook

USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon confirmed Friday that U.S. warplanes struck Taliban insurgent positions for the first time since officials approved a widening of the American involvement in the war last week.

The airstrikes hit Taliban targets in southern Afghanistan, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook told reporters. The attacks aided Afghan forces on the ground in an ongoing operation, and no U.S. combat troops are in the area, he said.

Cook declined to offer more details, saying commanders in Afghanistan specifically requested that information about the airstrikes be withheld. Cook’s remarks confirmed a report in USA TODAY Thursday that the new authorities granted last week to Gen. John Nicholson to attack the Taliban in support of Afghan forces had been exercised. Nicholson commands the U.S.-led coalition backing the Afghan government.

Airstrikes on Taliban positions are one of several new tactics available to Nicholson under the new authority, officials told USA TODAY. Others include U.S. combat advisers on the ground, surveillance planes to provide Afghans with intelligence on Taliban activities and U.S. pilots flying joint missions with the Afghan air force.

The new attacks must be approved by Nicholson, a four-star Army officer, and must meet the test that they will be decisive in helping the Afghans win battles and take and hold ground.

“The strategic effect is the appropriate test for the use of these authorities,” Cook said.

President Obama approved deepening the U.S. involvement in the war, and Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced last week that the authority had been granted.

U.S. launches first attacks on Taliban under new rules

Obama had planned to reduce the U.S. military's presence in Afghanistan to a token presence by the end of his term. But a resurgent Taliban and inability of Afghan forces to quell the insurgency led U.S. commanders to seek authority to unleash more firepower. The previous rules for using force allowed attacks for self defense, counter-terrorism or to prevent a catastrophic loss of Afghan troops or key terrain.

There are about 10,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, about a tenth the force there in 2010. Unless Nicholson seeks and receives approval for more troops, his force will drop to 5,500 at the end of the year.