U.S. Doubles Down on Afghan Air War; 650 Strikes in July
August 5th, 2011Via: Wired:
In July of 2010, when Gen. Stanley McChrsytal handed over command of the war in Afghanistan to Gen. David Petraeus, air strikes had become a tool of absolute last resort. NATO planes were only making about 10 attack runs a day — in the middle of Afghanistan’s fighting season, and with an influx of tens of thousands of new allied troops colliding with dug-in militants.
In July of 2011, Petraeus passed the baton to Gen. John Allen. But it’s a whole new — and much more ferocious — air war. Allied jets and bombers are unloading their weapons on more than 20 sorties a day, according to U.S. military statistics, for a total of 652 attack runs.
It’s part of a war effort that has grown more aggressive in nearly every way. Special operations forces now launch a dozen “kill/capture” raids a night, and have taken 3,775 insurgents off the battlefield in the last year. Massive surface-to-surface missiles have been used to clear the Taliban out of Kandahar; tanks have been sent to Helmand province to help crush opponents; civilian homes taken over by insurgents have been leveled without apology.
