US forces in Afghanistan killed and injured civilians as they lashed out in response to a failed Taliban attack on their country's defence secretary and the head of Nato.

The Taliban artillery attack was aimed at a plane carrying Pentagon chief General James Mattis to Kabul, along with Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg, but the pair were not at the airport at the time.

The US military admitted on Wednesday night that one of two missiles fired back at militants had missed its target, killing at least one civilian and wounding an undetermined number of others.