One day after Centcom reports showed a soaring number of US airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq and Syria, the Pentagon has offered new data on US airstrikes in Afghanistan, and as with the other cases, they are spiking quite dramatically, underscoring the increasing US reliance on open-ended air wars.
The number of strikes in the past month was more than at any time in the US occupation of Afghanistan since in 2012, with officials saying part of the increase was because of a new offensive against the ISIS in Afghanistan faction.
The strikes more than doubled, from 203 in March to 460 in April, and the ISIS strikes are only a fraction of that, with US airstrikes also targeting a growing number of Taliban targets, as Taliban forces continue to gain ground across the country.
This announcement comes with expectations of President Trump announcing his decision on Afghanistan troop levels any day now. The troop levels are expected to grow substantially, according to most Pentagon proposals, though the administration is said to be split at least somewhat on the wisdom of further escalation 16 years into a failing war.
Bomb, bomb. bomb Kabul?