Anti-Taliban raids by Afghan forces backed by U.S. airstrikes killed at least 40 civilians attending a wedding party in the southern Helmand province, Afghan officials said. The civilian deaths in Sunday night’s raids on Taliban hideouts further rattled Afghanistan amid an upsurge in violence that’s followed the collapse this month of U.S.-Taliban peace talks to end America’s longest war. “We are saddened and divested to hear that civilians have lost their lives in an incident in Helmand despite President Ghani’s repeated call for extra cautions in conducting military operations,” said Sediq Sediqqi, President Ashraf Ghani’s spokesman.
