Air strikes in Afganistan rain death on Taliban

NY Times:

The Air Force has conducted more than 2,000 airstrikes in Afghanistan over the past six months, a sharp increase in bombing that reflects the growing demand for American air cover since NATO has assumed a larger ground combat role, Air Force officials said.

The intensifying air campaign has focused on southern Afghanistan, where NATO units, primarily from Britain, Canada and the Netherlands, as well as American Special Forces have been engaging in the heaviest and most frequent ground combat with Taliban rebels since the invasion five years ago.

The NATO forces are mostly operating without heavy armor or artillery support, and as Taliban resistance has continued, more air support has been used to compensate for the lightness of the units, Air Force officials said. Most of the strikes have come during “close air support” missions, where the bombers patrol the area and respond to calls from ground units in combat rather than performing planned strikes.

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On a separate mission last week, a bomber dropped its entire payload of eight 2,000-pound bombs and six 500-pound bombs after ground units called for help, Air Force officials said. One B-1 pilot, Lt. Col. Tim Schepper, said that when troops called for airstrikes, “There are times when you can hear the gunfire and R.P.G.’s over the radio in the background, and that’s when you know you have helped keep them alive.” An R.P.G. is a rocket-propelled grenade.

To carry out the heavier mission load, the Air Force’s entire complement of B-1 bombers was shifted over the summer from the British air base at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean to a Middle Eastern airfield closer to Afghanistan. The new arrangement shortens the flying time to Afghanistan by two hours.

Air Force officials said they were prohibited from disclosing the location because of sensitivities by the host country about disclosing the extent of its cooperation with the American military.

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The 2,095 attacks by American aircraft since June is many times greater than the number of airstrikes in Iraq, where the terrain and nature of the conflict are less susceptible to bombing campaigns. There have been only 88 attacks by American aircraft in Iraq since June, according to Air Force figures. Unlike in Afghanistan, insurgents in Iraq are largely in urban areas and do not often mass in groups large enough to warrant the use of airstrikes, Air Force commanders said.

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There is more. The increased attacks reflect the incompetence of Taliban forces. They tend to bunch up in units that can be destroyed with one or two bombs. They also are resistant to retreats when it would be the more prudent course. They are basically light infantry with rifles and RPG's. They have no air defense, and the coalition is wisely going after them with fixed wing aircraft instead of the more vulnerable helicopters. The usual patter is either our forces discover the Taliban and they fix their position while the air craft are brought in to finish the job. The alternative is that the Taliban attempt an ambush and then find their forces destroyed by the aircraft called in by the ambushed force. In either case the Taliban forces are mostly destroyed. Some are captured and a few escape back to Pakistan.