The Department of Defense confirmed Tuesday that Mullah Abdul Salam, the Taliban’s commander for the province of Kunduz, was killed in an airstrike on Sunday, according to a Voice of America repor?t. The Taliban also confirmed that a remotely piloted aircraft had killed Salam along with four of his top associates in his home district of Dashti Archi, Kunduz. “Mullah Salam and the Taliban fighters under him murdered and terrorized the people of Kunduz for too long,” said Army Gen. John Nicholson, commander of US forces in Afghanistan, according to VOA. Salam is the most senior Taliban leader killed since a US drone strike killed Mullah Akhtar Mansoor, the Taliban leader, in May 2016.
Boeing received a $2.47 billion Air Force contract Nov. 25 for 15 more KC-46s, bringing to 183 the number of Pegasus tankers on contract to all customers, foreign and domestic. The new contract—for Lot 12 of the initially planned KC-46 buy—is to be completed by 2029.
