{"id":20479,"date":"2018-04-26T18:59:47","date_gmt":"2018-04-26T18:59:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/04\/26\/how-the-us-dropped-more-munitions-in-afghanistan-this-year-than-it-has-since-the-height-of-the-war\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T02:16:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T02:16:21","slug":"how-the-us-dropped-more-munitions-in-afghanistan-this-year-than-it-has-since-the-height-of-the-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/flashpoints\/2018\/04\/26\/how-the-us-dropped-more-munitions-in-afghanistan-this-year-than-it-has-since-the-height-of-the-war\/","title":{"rendered":"How the US dropped more munitions in Afghanistan this year than it has since the height of the war"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

U.S. forces in Afghanistan<\/a> have dropped more munitions in the first three months of this year than during the same time period in 2011 \u2014 a time widely considered the height of the war there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The spike in bombing comes after years of drawing down U.S. troops across the country\u2019s remote villages \u2014 and looks like it relies increasingly on an intelligence network grounded in technical capabilities rather than human interactions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Numbers released by U.S. Air Forces Central Command document 1,186 munitions expended<\/a> by aircraft in January, February and March this year. In 2011, during those same months, the military documented 1,083 weapons released<\/a>. Those weapons releases include both manned and unmanned aircraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Pentagon has said the increase in kinetic air operations<\/a> is part of a scheme to degrade the Taliban\u2019s finances<\/a> by targeting drug labs, which the insurgents are known to tax. This drug lab bombing campaign<\/a> has been touted by military leadership as a new, innovative approach to defeating the Taliban.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that\u2019s not the only difference between the old war and the new.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During 2011, the number of U.S. troops in-country hovered just below 100,000<\/a>. As of September 2017, that number was reportedly around 15,000<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With more than six times the number of troops at the height of the war, airstrikes conducted were frequently close-air support missions, called in by U.S. forces as they wandered into nests of enemy fighters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, though, the targets of airstrikes look largely pre-planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe increased airpower supports a deliberate air campaign designed to degrade the Taliban\u2019s primary means of funding its operations \u2014 narcotic production,\u201d Air Force Capt. AnnMarie Annicelli, spokeswoman for Air Forces Central Command, told Military Times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe [United States] has shifted from a time-based approach to one based on conditions,\u201d she added. \u201cConditions on the ground \u2014 not arbitrary timetables \u2014 will guide the strategy. In this new campaign, we no longer recognize arbitrary \u2018fighting seasons,\u2019 but instead will apply relentless pressure on the Taliban as demonstrated by the nonstop airstrikes since late November.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some missions against drug labs are conducted by teams of Afghan and U.S. special operations forces carrying out raids. These ground-based attacks sometimes bring back pictures and reports that help illuminate the narcotics business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To date, these efforts combined have deprived the Taliban of an estimated $220 million in revenue, according to Army Col. Lisa Garcia, a spokeswoman for U.S. forces in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, some experts express serious doubts about those numbers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

David Mansfield, a senior fellow at the London School of Economics, has researched opium production in Afghanistan for the past 20 growing seasons. In a January report<\/a> for the LSE\u2019s International Drug Policy Unit, he questioned the high tax rate U.S. officials claim the Taliban apply to drug labs, as well as the total value of the drugs said to be destroyed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
U.S. Special Forces Soldiers, attached to Special Operations Task Force-Afghanistan, alongside Afghan agents from the National Interdiction Unit, NIU, set fire to a field of Marijuana found outside of a compound housing a drug lab during an operation in the Ghorak district, Helmand province, Afghanistan, Sept. 12, 2016. The operation was conducted to disrupt and destroy drug labs owned by the Taliban in the area. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Connor Mendez\/Reviewed)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI really don\u2019t know how [U.S. forces] <\/font> came to the conclusion of a 20 [percent] tax rate to the Taliban,\u201d Mansfield told Military Times. \u201cFieldwork \u2014 and, indeed, economics \u2014 suggests that it is nothing like this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUltimately, without [them] <\/font> sharing the assumptions that inform how they calculate their estimate of the loss the Taliban incur from these lab strikes, then what they are reporting could at best be described as hope over substance; I am afraid the math on this just doesn\u2019t make sense to anyone other than themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mansfield also expressed concern that ground-based intelligence gathering and post-impact reporting after airstrikes was poorly done, based on a Nov. 19 airstrike in Musa Qala in Helmand province. His research determined that three of the six buildings struck that night were not actually drug labs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One building was frequently used by local Taliban, while the other two were owned by an opium trader known as Hajji Habibullah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHajji Habibullah was sleeping in his residence with his wife, and children: a 7-year-old daughter and four sons aged between 3 and 8. … Only Hajji Habibullah\u2019s son-in-law survived the attack,\u201d according to Mansfield\u2019s research. \u201cIt is also alleged that the slight delay between the air strikes allowed any occupants to escape to the river to the west of the opium bazaar. No such opportunity was afforded to Hajji Habibullah and his family as it was his compound that was first struck.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mansfield\u2019s research underscores concerns that without the same amount of troops on the ground as in past years, the intelligence gathering for airstrikes may be inadequate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not entirely clear how U.S. forces are gathering the intelligence necessary to conduct strikes effectively, given the roughly 85 percent reduction of troops since 2011.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

David Shedd, former acting director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said that the \u201ctechnical intelligence is as good as it\u2019s ever been,\u201d but human intelligence gathering has likely receded alongside the footprint of U.S. forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI left [the DIA] at a time when the forward physical presence was a very good barometer, but I\u2019m told that the technical collection piece is much better,\u201d Shedd said. \u201cI can\u2019t imagine the human intelligence piece is just as good with fewer people, but the technical collection remains very, very strong.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Commandos with the 7th SOK seized a large cache of opium worth approximately $12.6 million in lost revenue to the Taliban during a nighttime raid of a narcotics production facility in Helmand province, Afghanistan, Apr. 11-12, 2018. Ongoing Commando operations in Helmand, combined with recent airstrikes on Taliban narcotics production facilities, are designed to cripple the Taliban\u2019s main funding line \u2013 narcotics production. (Photo courtesy 7thSOK)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For technical intelligence, Shedd pointed to the greater capabilities of aircraft sensors downrange to scour targets, as well as the monitoring of radio frequencies and other, more complex signals and imagery collection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDoes it replace on-the-ground, tactical elements that I would trust to report back accurately? Probably not 100 percent,\u201d Shedd said. \u201cBut I understand it\u2019s in the \u2018good enough\u2019 category to maintain this campaign where it\u2019s at now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before the drawdown, troops working remote village stability operations would constantly collect information to pass up the collection chain, where it was sussed through and fused together within a broader network of technical and ground-based data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

National intelligence agencies rarely have the granularity of intelligence gathering that a ground force could provide after \u201cliterally going around the mountain, and over the hill to conduct a battle damage assessment or pre-strike [report],\u201d Shedd said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an era with a much smaller forward-deployed presence, it remains unclear if the replacement of human intelligence-gathering with technical collection will always suffice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Citing operational security concerns, Garcia, the U.S. forces <\/font> spokeswoman, said she couldn\u2019t provide information on how exactly they are currently sourcing their intelligence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, \u201cwe cannot provide any further information about whether or not coalition advisers or Afghan [tactical air coordinators] were on the ground for specific strikes,\u201d Garcia said, referencing the teams of operators who could provide ground-based intelligence and targeting information prior to an airstrike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Garcia would only add that U.S. advisers \u201care seeing successes on the battlefield as a result of tactical air coordinators.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

U.S. Forces-Afghanistan (USFOR-A) has dropped more munitions in the first three months of this year than during the same time period in 2011 \u2014 a time widely considered the height of the war in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":45309,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":8,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,8,12,25,69],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3297],"class_list":["post-20479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-flashpoints","category-news","category-newsletters","category-your-marine-corps"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"5LKNTAT24JDL5DOL6ULGAP6H3Q","arc_canonical_url":"\/flashpoints\/2018\/04\/26\/how-the-us-dropped-more-munitions-in-afghanistan-this-year-than-it-has-since-the-height-of-the-war\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\nHow the US dropped more munitions in Afghanistan this year than it has since the height of the war - 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