Air Attacks Quadruple Under Petraeus

In June, after Petraeus took command of the Afghan war effort from McChrystal, there was speculation that the new boss might undo some of the restrictions. It wasn’t just that McChrystal’s rules had made it harder for panicking platoons to call in airstrikes — even when they were under enemy attack. Petraeus’ history in Iraq also suggested a greater willingness to bomb adversaries, despite the concerns about civilian casualties. Lethal, munitions-dropping sorties more-than-quadrupled under Petraeus’ leadership.

Publicly, however, Petraeus and his generals said that there would be no major changes to the so-called “rules of engagement,” which govern the use of force. Ground commanders were no longer allowed to add extra restrictions. Strikes from the sky were still considered a “choice of last resort.”

By then, those attacks were already starting to creep up from their McChrystal-era lows: Five hundred lethal sorties in August, compared to 405 the year before.

It’s part of a larger increase in the larger Afghan air campaign. Surveillance flights are soaring — nearly triple last year’s amount. According to statistics (.pdf) supplied by the U.S. Force, 40 million pounds of supplies were airdropped in the first nine months of 2010, compared to 32 million pounds in all of 2009.

There have been one-time spikes in air strikes before — even under McChrystal, who famously curbed the attacks. And, of course, some of the added strikes can be explained by the fact that there are now more US soldiers on the spot to get killed. Some portion of those ground forces will invariably call for air support. But since Petraeus took over the Afghan campaign, every month has seen an increase in airstrikes. And every every increase has been bigger than the previous month’s. From Reuters, Wired,various newsfeeds and here.