{"id":71730,"date":"2018-02-07T18:33:31","date_gmt":"2018-02-07T18:33:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/02\/07\/afghanistan-now-main-effort-for-us-airpower\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T14:07:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T14:07:09","slug":"afghanistan-now-main-effort-for-us-airpower","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/news\/your-air-force\/2018\/02\/07\/afghanistan-now-main-effort-for-us-airpower\/","title":{"rendered":"Afghanistan now main effort for US airpower"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The U.S. has modified bombers and added aircraft to Afghanistan to return focus to its campaign against the Taliban, the top general for the air campaign there said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAfghanistan has become CENTCOM\u2019s main effort,\u201d said Air Force Maj. Gen. James B. Hecker, the top U.S. and coalition air commander in Afghanistan. As major combat operations against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria have ended<\/a>, \u201cthis has allowed CENTCOM to shift more assets our way, which will significantly improve our ability to assist the Afghans.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In recent weeks CENTCOM has deployed an A-10C Thunderbolt II squadron<\/a> to Kandahar, received additional MQ-9 Reapers, including armed variants, and added combat search-and-rescue assets to Afghanistan, Hecker said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Service members stand alongside an A-10 Thunderbolt II at Kandahar Air Base in Afghanistan on Jan. 23, 2018. (Shah Marai\/AFP\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

During a video conference with Pentagon reporters, DoD aired several video clips of airstrikes in the past several days that they said were part of the ramped-up effort. One clip showed a B-52 Stratofortress that had been modified with a rotary launcher to allow it to carry 24 precision guided munitions<\/a> instead of its previous maximum load of 16. The modification allowed the bomber to strike three different Taliban sites, Hecker said.<\/p>\n\n\n\t