The United States' military's air assault campaign in Afghanistan is reaching heights not seen since at least 2009 – as far back as available data goes – according to a new report from Air Force Central Command.
The uptick in payloads delivered comes 17 years since the US invaded the country in an effort to oust the Taliban from power. Just last November, America's top general in Afghanistan, Gen. John Nicholson, said that the war was in a “stalemate.”
As of May 2018, the US has already dropped 2,339 weapons from the Afghan skies since the start of the year. May saw the deployment of some 591 munitions in Operation Freedom Sentinel, more than any month since October 2017.
Weapon deployment data for them Air Force Central Command is only available dating back to 2009. The year that saw the most airborne weapon deployments, 2011, had seen 491 fewer weapons dropped by the end of May than 2018, meaning the US is on pace to shatter its previous record for bombs dropped in Afghanistan.
“US air operations in May put tremendous pressure on every branch of the Taliban's network,” Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Harrigian, Combined Force Air Component Commander said in the report, which was released Monday.
“We struck Taliban leadership with precision strikes, and consistently pummeled their revenue-producing facilities, weapons caches, and staging facilities,” the general noted.
Since May, the US has continued to decapitate extremist leaders in Afghanistan…
