Taliban fighters launched rockets at Bagram Airfield and across Afghanistan Friday as they officially began the start of their 2015 fighting season.
In an release announcing the “success” of their first day of fighting, the Taliban said they’d launched more than 100 attacks across Afghanistan Friday, including one at Bagram that “killed and wounded many Americans,” according to the release, as reported by Al Jazeera America.
According to the coalition forces located at Bagram, however, those reports were highly inflated, and only one rocket landed inside the perimeter, injuring no one. The U.S. base is located just north of Kabul.
This spring’s offensive is one of the main reasons thousands of U.S. troops will remain in Afghanistan through the end of the year, instead of drawing down as previously planned.
Earlier this spring, during the visit of Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani, President Obama committed to keeping a force of about 10,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan through the end of 2015, instead of drawing down to the previously planned force of 5,500.
Taliban rockets also targeted police checkpoints and provincial government buildings Friday, but no casualties were reported, according to Al Jazeera America.
