The Taliban is on the offensive. Keeping the militants at bay: U.S. airstrikes, even as bases close and troops leave.

It was solely after a collection of punishing U.S. airstrikes that Afghan floor forces had been in a position to retake the territory, Afghan officers mentioned. U.S. air help performed a equally essential function in October in pushing again the militant group in Helmand province, the place the Taliban got here inside yards of breaching the provincial capital’s limits.

The battles come as U.S. forces have begun to close Kandahar Air Field, based on two Afghan officers, as a part of an accelerated drawdown of U.S. forces in the nation. After the current weeks of intense combating, many right here worry the diminished troop numbers and base closures might imply much less U.S. help for future battles in opposition to an emboldened Taliban.

The U.S. airstrikes had been “the only reason the Taliban was pushed back,” mentioned Lt. Col. Niaz Mahmad Majahad, the nationwide police commander in Arghandab whose forces fought the Taliban till the army arrived. “If it weren’t for the airstrikes, the Taliban would not have fallen.”

Over the subsequent two months, the variety of U.S. forces in Afghanistan will be cut in half, from round 5,000 to 2,500, performing protection secretary Christopher C. Miller introduced from the Pentagon on Tuesday. That degree will mark the lowest variety of U.S. troops on the floor in the battle since 2002. 

It was a transfer Miller’s predecessor warned in opposition to in a classified memo days earlier than he was fired. Former protection secretary Mark T. Esper cited ongoing violence in Afghanistan and apprehension about undercutting negotiations between the Afghan authorities and the Taliban amongst his considerations a couple of extra speedy withdrawal.

A U.S. protection official, talking on the situation of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the subject, mentioned a small variety of U.S. service members are at Kandahar Air Field as the drawdown continues. Many of them are getting ready tools to be despatched out of the nation as the Jan. 15 drawdown deadline looms, he mentioned.

The U.S. army command in Afghanistan, identified as Resolute Support, didn’t remark on airstrikes in opposition to the Taliban in Helmand and Kandahar or on the standing of Kandahar Air Field.

Kandahar Air Field, which Afghan officers say offered help for the airstrikes final week, was as soon as the largest NATO base in Afghanistan, residence to what U.S. troops known as the “boardwalk,” a group of shops, eating places and U.S. fast-food chains such as KFC and TGI Fridays.

Gul Ahmad Kamin, 34, a member of parliament from Kandahar, mentioned U.S. forces have been slowly closing the airfield for months and had been only one week away from shuttering the base when Taliban fighters attacked close by Lashkar Gah, Helmand’s provincial capital. A senior Afghan official who spoke on the situation of anonymity to debate the matter confirmed that U.S. forces have closed elements of the base.

An Afghan worker of a non-public safety firm situated close to U.S. compounds on the base mentioned he seen motion to close the base a couple of month and a half in the past, when a number of massive transport containers had been handed over to the Afghan army, surveillance balloons had been reeled in and deflated, and U.S. troops started promoting off their civilian automobiles to non-public contractors. He spoke on the situation of anonymity as a result of his employer didn’t authorize him to talk to the media.

Throughout the weeks-long Taliban offensive in southern Afghanistan, the huge cargo planes continued their runs to and from Kandahar Air Field, he mentioned.

For Afghan authorities forces stationed in and round Kandahar, the presence of U.S. troops is as a lot about symbolism as it is about the technical help they will present, Kamin mentioned.

“It’s all about morale,” he mentioned. “When U.S. forces are increasing, the morale is higher. When they are decreasing, the morale suffers.”

In many elements of Afghanistan, as U.S. troops have drawn down, insecurity and increased ranges of violence have followed. And though the public text of the U.S.-Taliban deal doesn’t name for a discount in violence, U.S. officers have mentioned Taliban assaults on cities and cities underneath Afghan authorities management are “not consistent” with the settlement.

Abdul Nafi Pashtun, commander of Afghanistan’s 04 paramilitary unit, mentioned the Taliban’s assault on Arghandab is one other breach of the deal.

“Their plan was to enter Kandahar city,” he mentioned. Established primarily to conduct night time raids and different small, focused operations, Pashtun’s unit has been marshaled to battle on the entrance strains over the previous seven months as Taliban assaults have intensified and common Afghan models with much less U.S. help have proved unable to guard territory underneath authorities management.

He and his commandos had been known as in to help different Afghan forces as they struggled to retake Arghandab earlier this month. The district, thought-about the gateway to Kandahar metropolis, sits on its northwestern edge alongside one among three most important roads that join the metropolis to the remainder of Afghanistan.

Majahad, the nationwide police commander in Arghandab, mentioned an estimated 3,500 Taliban fighters launched the first assault on his district and “had 500 motorbikes with them,” he mentioned, shaking his head.

In three a long time of army service, he mentioned, he by no means noticed a Taliban assault of such magnitude. “There is no doubt they are stronger and more well equipped now,” he mentioned. “And with this news [of faster U.S. troop withdrawals], the Taliban gets a great advantage.”

Fatima, a widow in her 60s from Arghandab who like many Afghans goes by a single title, fled to Kandahar metropolis greater than two weeks in the past with three babies.

“There were bullets everywhere,” she mentioned. “This war is the worst I have seen since the Soviet time.”

Saki Jana fled along with her household from Panjawai district west of Kandahar, the place intense clashes with the Taliban are ongoing. She additionally mentioned the variety of Taliban fighters was far better on this assault than in earlier assaults.

“They were just everywhere, on every street. They only ran to hide when you could hear a helicopter coming,” she mentioned.

Without the worry of U.S. air and drone strikes since the signing of the February deal, the Taliban can extra simply transfer fighters and tools round the nation, Majahad mentioned. And the militants may also collect brazenly in bigger teams, as they did in the days and weeks main as much as the offensives in Helmand and Kandahar.

“I don’t think we will ever be able to go back,” Fatima mentioned. While Afghan authorities forces have retaken most of her district, she mentioned she doesn’t belief that they received’t abandon their posts the subsequent time the Taliban launches an assault.

“The Americans are leaving, the Taliban are increasing their attacks, and we are stuck in between,” she mentioned. “This country is just being destroyed.”

Aziz Tassal in Kandahar and Dan Lamothe in Washington contributed to this report.