Thursday, January 17, 2008

More airstrikes being used in Afghanistan

The following is excerpted from a longer article on airstrikes in Iraq as well. The US defence secretary Robert Gates has criticised NATO operations in Afghanistan including the use of airstrikes. Actually statistics show that other countries than the US in Afghanistan do not use airstrikes more than the US. Gates' critique is weird in that the head of NATO in Afghanistan, a U.S. general, is nicknamed Bomber McNeil for his use of airstrikes.

In Afghanistan, where U.S. and NATO bombings picked up in the middle of 2006, coalition airstrikes reached 3,572 last year, more than double the total for 2006 and more than 20 times the number in 2005. Many of the strikes have targeted the Taliban and other extremists in Helmand province, and military officials said they have been able to use air power to support small Special Forces units that engage the enemy in remote locations.

Human rights groups estimate that Afghan civilian casualties caused by airstrikes tripled to more than 300 in 2007, fueling fears that such aggressive bombardment could be catastrophic for the innocent.

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