Sailors directed aircraft on the flight deck of the USS John C Stennis on Jan. 10. Tyler Hicks/The New York Times
Jets Are Crucial to Afghan War, Until a U.S. Exit -- New York Times
Death stopped Abdul Qayum, a Taliban commander in Afghanistan’s Zabul Province, in a fiery flash and roar.
It was an evening in October last year, and Mr. Qayum was meeting several Afghans in a field. Though he did not know it, a Navy F/A-18 strike fighter was circling high overhead more than five miles away, summoned by an American Special Operations team. Its engines were out of earshot, the pilot said, “so we didn’t burn the target.”
Mr. Qayum led a platoon-size Taliban group and was plotting to bomb an Afghan government office, an American intelligence officer said. Under Western rules guiding the use of deadly force, the pilot was barred from trying to kill him while he stood in a group of unidentified men.
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My Comment: U.S. air-power has made a huge difference in the Afghan war .... and without it .... the Afghan military is going to pay a heavy price when the U.S. leaves.
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