Taliban has been gaining territory and taking over customs posts at Afghan border crossings, seizing much of the govt's revenue. It now controls half of the country’s 419 districts

Washington: U.S. military aircraft have been hitting ground targets in Afghanistan in an effort to protect allies, according to U.S. Central Command, as the Taliban makes rapid advances in the void left by withdrawing American and North Atlantic Treaty Organization troops.

“U.S. forces have conducted several airstrikes in defence of our Afghan partners in recent days,” U.S. Air Force Maj. Nicole Ferrara, a U.S. Central Command spokesperson, said by email.

She declined to provide specifics on the aircraft involved. President Joe Biden ordered B-52 bombers and AC-130 Spectre gunships to strike enemy fighters advancing toward Kandahar and other cities, the Daily Mail reported on Saturday. A National Security Council spokesman referred questions to the Defence Department.

The Taliban will avenge U.S. airstrikes with “full strength,” spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi said in an emailed statement on Sunday, adding that the U.S. targeted civilian infrastructure such as hospitals and schools in the southern Helmand province.

The last U.S. ground forces are scheduled to leave Afghanistan by Aug. 31. The U.S. Embassy in Kabul on Saturday urged U.S. citizens to leave Afghanistan immediately “using available commercial flight options,” according to a statement on its website that cited “the security conditions and reduced staffing.”

The Taliban has been gaining territory and taking over customs posts at Afghan border crossings, seizing much of the government’s revenue. It now controls half of the country’s 419 districts, and the militants are putting pressure on the provincial capitals, General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said last month. Afghan security forces are consolidating around the cities as Taliban fighters attempt to isolate those population centres, he said.