Afghan airstrikes decrease, firefights rise - Air Force News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Air Force Times

Afghan airstrikes decrease, firefights rise

The number of U.S. airstrikes over Afghanistan fell sharply after a new commander came on the scene, despite more firefights on the ground, Air Force statistics show.

Airmen dropped about half as many bombs this summer as they did during the same time last year; firefights — officially called troops-in-contact incidents during which most airstrikes occur — rose by a third, according to data from Air Forces Central Command. During June, July and August, the number of firefights jumped to 1,752 from 1,332 in the same three months of 2008.

The reduction in airstrikes can be attributed to a policy implemented earlier this summer by Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, commander of U.S. Forces Afghanistan, ordering air and ground forces not to attack buildings where insurgents may be hiding among civilians unless coalition troops are at risk and friendly forces cannot safely disengage.

An air attack in May that killed dozens of civilians spurred McChrystal to act. The policy change had succeeded in dramatically reducing civilian casualties during the summer, according to the Defense Department, but a Sept. 4 strike in Kunduz province that killed an estimated 37 civilians once again caused outrage in the international community.

Risks and rewards of attacks

The order affected the way commanders assess the potential risks and rewards of any attack, said Brig. Gen. Steven Kwast, commander of the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan.

“What has changed is this deeper understanding that … when the enemy [is] shooting at you from a village … instead of precisely trying to take out that enemy … you just withdraw,” he said in a July interview. “We have to accept the fact that if one noncombatant is killed in this conflict, you could have 20 people pick up a rifle and fight against us as a result. So you may win the tactical battle, but you lose the overall war.”

Munitions drops in the spring had been steadily increasing until McChrystal took command four months ago. The Air Force dropped 437 bombs in June, compared with 984 in the same 30 days last year. The July numbers for 2009 and 2008, respectively: 369 and 752. The number for last month was 405, compared with the August 2008 total of 630.

Airmen with the 336th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron at Bagram are tasked with helping troops on the ground, whether or not that involves dropping weapons, said 1st Lt. Reade Loper, an F-15E weapons systems officer with the squadron.

“If we go out and don’t drop another bomb the rest of this deployment, but we save coalition lives from dying, that’s absolutely fine,” Loper said. “And every single person in this squadron will say the exact same thing.”

Related reading:

Experts: McChrystal order important, but difficult