Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
USA Today
April 8, 2009
Pg. 6
By Tom Vanden Brook, USA Today
WASHINGTON — Military commanders in Afghanistan reduced their reliance on airstrikes in 2008, records show, a change that experts say reflects the limitations of air power against a resilient insurgency.
From 2004 to 2007, the overall tonnage of munitions dropped from planes rose from 163 tons to 1,956 tons, a 1,100% increase, Air Force data show.
However, the total tonnage dropped in 2008 fell to 1,314 tons, a 33% decrease.
The limits of air power show why more ground troops are needed to provide security, said Dakota Wood, a military analyst at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.
So far this year, President Obama ordered 21,000 more troops to Afghanistan to help tame the insurgency.
Meanwhile, as security has improved in Iraq, bombing has become almost an afterthought. From October 2008 through January, 2 tons of bombs have been dropped.
Commanders depend on airstrikes in Afghanistan more than in Iraq because jets can respond quickly to ambushed troops spread thinly across mountainous countryside. Afghanistan is larger than Iraq and has a higher population but about one-third the number of coalition forces. There are already 38,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
"The Taliban have been able to regain their footing due to the lack of U.S. and coalition forces being present on the ground and the lack of any meaningful Afghan capability in its local police force or national military forces," Wood said. "Lacking sufficient manpower to displace the Taliban and maintain control of these areas, the U.S. has had to employ airstrikes to inflict costs on the enemy."
Commanders worry that airstrikes can wound or kill innocent bystanders, setting back efforts to win support from locals. Gen. David McKiernan, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, has said the Taliban seeks to create backlash against coalition efforts there by using civilians as "shields." In September, the Air Force tightened its rules for dropping bombs in an effort to limit civilian casualties.
In January, USA TODAY reported that Afghan insurgents had learned to attack U.S. troops and scatter before they could be hit by airstrikes, a tactic that has limited the amount of bombs dropped.
The Air Force says that its use of bombs and missiles has been relatively light compared with previous wars and that the upward trend in bombing in recent years is minor. The peak in the third quarter of 2007 occurred when 600 tons of bombs were dropped over several days to support classified operations, according to the Air Force.
"On a typical day of combat operations, small numbers of bomb, missile and/or strafing strikes take place in response to enemy activity," Maj. Timothy Johnson, an Air Force spokesman based in southwest Asia, said in an e-mail.
Those warplanes also fly surveillance missions and will buzz enemy forces in "shows of force" that prompt insurgents to retreat from attacks, Johnson said.
Since 2001, the Air Force has dropped 14,049 tons of bombs in Afghanistan and 18,858 tons in Iraq. That compares with 6.7 million tons dropped during the Vietnam War.
Since the 1991 Persian Gulf War, "smart bombs," which home in on targets with directions from lasers and satellites, have largely replaced weapons dropped that use little more than gravity as a guide.
Greater precision requires fewer bombs, Wood said. "Most munitions pre-Desert Storm missed their target," he said. "With the advent of precision guidance systems … instead of dropping a thousand, now I can drop three."
April 8, 2009
Pg. 6
By Tom Vanden Brook, USA Today
WASHINGTON — Military commanders in Afghanistan reduced their reliance on airstrikes in 2008, records show, a change that experts say reflects the limitations of air power against a resilient insurgency.
From 2004 to 2007, the overall tonnage of munitions dropped from planes rose from 163 tons to 1,956 tons, a 1,100% increase, Air Force data show.
However, the total tonnage dropped in 2008 fell to 1,314 tons, a 33% decrease.
The limits of air power show why more ground troops are needed to provide security, said Dakota Wood, a military analyst at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.
So far this year, President Obama ordered 21,000 more troops to Afghanistan to help tame the insurgency.
Meanwhile, as security has improved in Iraq, bombing has become almost an afterthought. From October 2008 through January, 2 tons of bombs have been dropped.
Commanders depend on airstrikes in Afghanistan more than in Iraq because jets can respond quickly to ambushed troops spread thinly across mountainous countryside. Afghanistan is larger than Iraq and has a higher population but about one-third the number of coalition forces. There are already 38,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
"The Taliban have been able to regain their footing due to the lack of U.S. and coalition forces being present on the ground and the lack of any meaningful Afghan capability in its local police force or national military forces," Wood said. "Lacking sufficient manpower to displace the Taliban and maintain control of these areas, the U.S. has had to employ airstrikes to inflict costs on the enemy."
Commanders worry that airstrikes can wound or kill innocent bystanders, setting back efforts to win support from locals. Gen. David McKiernan, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, has said the Taliban seeks to create backlash against coalition efforts there by using civilians as "shields." In September, the Air Force tightened its rules for dropping bombs in an effort to limit civilian casualties.
In January, USA TODAY reported that Afghan insurgents had learned to attack U.S. troops and scatter before they could be hit by airstrikes, a tactic that has limited the amount of bombs dropped.
The Air Force says that its use of bombs and missiles has been relatively light compared with previous wars and that the upward trend in bombing in recent years is minor. The peak in the third quarter of 2007 occurred when 600 tons of bombs were dropped over several days to support classified operations, according to the Air Force.
"On a typical day of combat operations, small numbers of bomb, missile and/or strafing strikes take place in response to enemy activity," Maj. Timothy Johnson, an Air Force spokesman based in southwest Asia, said in an e-mail.
Those warplanes also fly surveillance missions and will buzz enemy forces in "shows of force" that prompt insurgents to retreat from attacks, Johnson said.
Since 2001, the Air Force has dropped 14,049 tons of bombs in Afghanistan and 18,858 tons in Iraq. That compares with 6.7 million tons dropped during the Vietnam War.
Since the 1991 Persian Gulf War, "smart bombs," which home in on targets with directions from lasers and satellites, have largely replaced weapons dropped that use little more than gravity as a guide.
Greater precision requires fewer bombs, Wood said. "Most munitions pre-Desert Storm missed their target," he said. "With the advent of precision guidance systems … instead of dropping a thousand, now I can drop three."