U.S. Drone Strikes Becoming The Norm In Afghanistan

The U.S. Air Force supplied information of drone strikes shows a sharp increase from 2011 to 2012

Revealed: U.S. Carried Out 333 Drone Strikes In Afghanistan This Year Alone - More Than The Entire Drone Strikes In Pakistan Over The Past Eight Years COMBINED -- Daily Mail

* U.S. carried out 333 drone strikes in Afghanistan in 2012, report says, up from 294 in 2011
* Controversial method of fighting uses remote pilots to operate aircrafts

The United States carried out more drone strikes in Afghanistan this year than it has done in all the years put together in Pakistan since it launched the covert air war there eight years ago, it has been revealed.

The statistics, published by the U.S. Air Force and published by Wired’s Danger Room blog, show that there were 333 drone strikes in Afghanistan in 2012 alone, up from 294 in the previous year and 278 in 2010.

It is far more than an estimated 338 strikes carried out by the CIA in Pakistan since it began hunting down remnants of al Qaeda, the Taliban and other militant groups in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas eight years ago.

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My Comment: Manned combat aircraft are still the norm .... but the trend is (slowly but surely) going the other way.