US strike kills Taliban splinter commander in western Afghanistan

Herat provincial governor's spokesman Jailani Farhad said on Thursday that the commander, identified as Mullah Nangyalay, was killed in Shindand district a day earlier.
A senior provincial police source said the airstrike had been carried out by an American unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in Afghanistan. 
The NATO military alliance’s so-called Resolute Support (RS) mission in the country said its forces had launched an airstrike in support of Afghan forces, with a spokesman confirming US participation in the operation.
Nangyalay separated from the main branch of the Taliban a few years ago to join a smaller breakaway faction after the death of Mullah Omar in 2013.
The United States invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 and overthrew a Taliban regime in power at the time. But US forces have remained bogged down there through the presidencies of George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and now Donald Trump.
Some 18 years on, Washington is seeking a truce with the militants, who now control or have influence in about half of Afghanistan’s territory. The Taliban have rejected calls for a ceasefire and instead stepped up operations across the country over the past few months.
The main Taliban group has been negotiating with the Trump administration for more than a year over the withdrawal of US troops in exchange for security guarantees from the militants.
Nearly 20,000 foreign troops, most of them Americans, are currently deployed in Afghanistan as part of a mission to purportedly train, assist, and advise Afghan security forces.