Boston Globe, 8 October 2014
“According to the latest Pentagon statistics, US combat aircraft dropped more bombs on Taliban and other militant targets in August than it had in any single month in two years — and nearly triple the monthly average since January. … The stepped-up campaign was viewed by some analysts as an effort to beat back recent Taliban gains ahead of the US drawdown. Others saw it as a preview of what might lie ahead as the Afghan government struggles to maintain its own security and needs sustained US help from the air.”
US Army General John Campbell, the commander of international forces in the country, added that the number of US aircraft inside Afghanistan available to conduct strikes, gather intelligence, and provide logistical support to the Afghans “will be greatly diminished from what we have today” by the end of the year. Nevertheless, because nearly half of the airstrikes are being conducted by combat aircraft coming from bases or ships elsewhere in the region, the air operations could remain at a high level.
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This article was last updated on 9 Mar 2020
