WASHINGTON/KABUL, (Reuters) – NATO-led forces killed the Taliban militants responsible for shooting down a U.S. helicopter last weekend but not the insurgent leader targeted in the doomed mission, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan said yesterday.
The disclosure by General John Allen came during a briefing on the crash that killed 30 U.S. forces — most of them elite Navy SEALs — in the single deadliest incident for the U.S. military in the Afghan war. Eight Afghans were also killed in the crash in a remote valley southwest of Kabul.
Allen acknowledged that the main Taliban leader sought in the Aug. 6 operation was still at large.
“Did we get the leader that we were going after in the initial operation? No, we did not,” Allen said. “And we’re going to continue to pursue that network.”