The Pentagon condemned the Taliban attack on a Kandahar air base Wednesday, where several hundred U.S. troops are based, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said at a press briefing.
“We condemn today’s attack on Kandahar airfield, home to several hundred U.S. and coalition personnel,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Wednesday night at the press briefing.
“While the attack resulted in no casualties or damage, the Taliban’s decision to provoke even more violence in Afghanistan remains disruptive to the opportunity for peace presented by ongoing negotiations,” he added.
A U.S. Forces-Afghanistan spokesman said the airfield is under control of the Afghan government, but U.S. and coalition troops are still present.
“The rockets landed outside the perimeter and there was no damage [and] no casualties,” the spokesman said in a statement.
Kirby, however, would not directly answer a question by the Washington Examiner on whether the attack constituted a violation of the U.S. agreement with the Taliban.
“I’m not prepared to give you an assessment right now, one way or the other, as to how this suits with the agreement,” he said.
“Clearly, the violence is too high,” he said of the situation in Afghanistan. “Clearly, this attack certainly indicates that’s going to be disruptive to the opportunity to achieve a peaceful negotiation, but I’m not prepared today to give an assessment of this attack as balance against the Doha agreement.”
Wednesday’s rocket attack comes just three weeks before the May 1 deadline for U.S troops withdrawal from Afghanistan as per the agreement signed in February last year between the Taliban and the US.
However, the Biden administration is still reviewing the situation and expectations currently are Washington will seek to extend troop presence in Afghanistan for the short-term.
Last month US President Joe Biden said in an interview a complete withdrawal would not be impossible but it would be “tough” from a logistics point of view.
