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Strikes in Afghanistan decline as flights rise

As criticism increased that airstrikes in Afghanistan were killing too many civilians and endangering the support for U.S. troops there, the number of bombs dropped by Air Force, Navy and other coalition warplanes declined.

Air Forces Central figures show that since June, the number of bombs dropped by fighters and bombers decreased each month, even as ground combat increased.

The number of bomb strikes peaked in June at 646. By October, the monthly total had declined to 182.

At the same time, ground combat became more deadly. From June through October, 96 U.S. servicemen died in combat in Afghanistan, compared with 51 in the same months last year, according to the Defense Department.

While bomb strikes were less frequent, there was no let up in close-air support flights.

From January to the end of October, coalition jets flew 15,792 sorties, 1,800 more missions than were flown for all of 2007. In October alone, 1,590 close-air support sorties were launched.

The Air Forces Central bomb strike numbers do not include Army helicopter or Air Force special operations gunship missions, nor do they take into account cannon-strafing runs and shows of force flown by jets where no munitions were released.

A spokesman for Air Forces Central said there was not a direct link between fewer bomb strikes and concerns about civilian deaths or changes in tactics intended to reduce civilian casualties.

“Avoiding civilian casualties has always been a top priority of the U.S. military,” spokesman Lt. Col James Garcia said in a written statement to Air Force Times.

“The reasons for differences in the ratio of sorties to strikes are based upon a multitude of factors ... that constantly change,” Garcia said. “What appear to be short-term trends are often simply normal fluctuations in a complex process.”

The criticism of civilians dying in airstrikes reached a crescendo in August, when Afghan officials claimed an Aug. 21 attack killed more than 90 civilians in the village of Azizabad in Herat province.

The attack targeted a Taliban leader; at first, U.S. officials put civilian deaths at six people — two women and four children. However, as evidence mounted, so did the civilian death toll. A U.S. Central Command investigation found that about 33 civilians died. The assault also killed 22 insurgents.

The inquiry report, issued Oct. 1, did not fault the ground commander of the special operations forces who called in the airstrike or the crew of the AC-130H Spectre gunship that fired.

“Unfortunately and unknown to the U.S. and Afghan forces, the anti-coalition militants chose fighting positions in close proximity to civilians,” wrote investigating officer Air Force Brig. Gen. Michael Callan.

As a result, Army Gen. David McKiernan, commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, reviewed airstrike procedures and on Sept. 2 issued a “tactical directive” for how troops should deal with civilians and the use lethal force.

Specifics of the directive were not made public, but McKiernan said 90 percent of the directive emphasized existing procedures that call for positive identification of a target, reviews of potential civilian damages and proportional use of force.

“We have a very measured approach to it,” McKiernan told reporters in September.

The new directive did not lead to fewer airstrikes, according to Air Forces Central.

“In some cases, the result is a delay while confirmation is made as to whether civilians are in the target area,” Garcia told Air Force Times. “In some cases, engagement may be delayed until the target has moved away from civilians. In other cases, rapid confirmation of the absence of civilians in the area results in no discernable delay at all.”

Despite the precautions, civilian deaths continue to mount.

On Nov. 3, a U.S. and Afghan patrol took fire from buildings in the village of Wech Bagtu, north of Kandahar. The ground troops called in air support and the airstrike killed 37 civilians and wounded 35, many in a wedding party, U.S. military officials said.

Villagers told investigators insurgents rushed into the village and fired on the coalition patrol, a U.S. report said. Some villagers tried to flee the battle, but were held hostage by insurgents and caught in the crossfire.