October 15, 2008:
Although the U.S. Air Force has three times
as many aircraft in Iraq, it has been dropping more bombs this year in
Afghanistan. Not that many bombs are dropped. So far this year, there have been
only about 2,000 instances of aircraft weapons being used, and sometimes that
consists of a fighter or A-10 strafing run, or cannon fired from an AC-130
gunship. Just as frequently, the warplanes will perform a "shows of
force" (a low level pass, sometimes breaking the sound barrier for
additional, booming, effect.)
These air attacks have a devastating
effect on the Taliban, al Qaeda and bandits that NATO, U.S. and Afghan troops
encounter. The best defense the enemy has come up with is to take shelter in a
compound or building filled with civilians. But many of the civilians have come
to realize how this works, and will often flee when the bad guys show up
looking for a place to stay. That often results in the Taliban forcing the
civilians to remain, often at gunpoint. The Taliban know that mingling with
civilians will sometimes cause the Americans to not bomb, and that if they do
bomb, the dead civilians are turned into powerful propaganda ("American
war crimes
"), that puts more pressure on the U.S. to further tighten the
ROE (Rules of Engagement, under what circumstances bombs can be dropped.)
It's gotten to the point where no
bombs, or even cannon fire, are allowed if civilians are present and U.S.
ground troops are not in immediate danger. In many cases, the bad guys use this
opportunity (troops outside the compound, bombers overhead, civilians all
about) to sneak off into the night and get away, and kill another day. The
ground commander can often get permission to bomb before the target flees, but
only if the right people in the chain of command (sometimes going all the way
back to Washington) are awake and reachable in time. But more and more often,
the bombs are not dropped, and the Taliban win another one.
When American troops are under attack,
and in danger, the ROE is a lot more permissive, even if there are civilians in
the area. But the Taliban are getting more creative in their use of human
shields, which has, so far, proved to be the only tactic that can defeat smart
bombs and American air power.