oops! New U.S. air strategy in Afghanistan: First, do no harm

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NANGAHAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan —

Six months after Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S commander in Afghanistan, issued a tactical directive urging troops to walk away from a fight rather than risk killing civilians, the Air Force is engaging in a campaign of restraint. Instead of air strikes, airmen increasingly are searching for places they can drop bombs that can be heard and felt, but where they're unlikely to damage buildings or hurt people.

It isn't a universal effort. In Afghanistan's Khost and Helmand provinces, Afghanistan's most violent, U.S. jets more frequently drop bombs that are intended to maim and kill.

In less conflicted areas such as Nangahar, however, soldiers are increasingly seeking tactics other than air attacks to get them out of hairy situations. Among the alternative uses of air power: buzzing enemy positions in a show of force, and shooting flares or dropping warning bombs instead of directly engaging the enemy.

Privately, ground troops feel that the restraint is putting them in greater danger, and so far, they aren't seeing results.


NATO Air Strike Mix-Up Kills Four

KABUL—A joint U.S.-Afghan force clashed with other Afghan troops manning a snow-covered outpost and called in an air strike early Saturday, killing four Afghan soldiers, U.S. and Afghan officials said. Both sides called the clash a case of mistaken identity.

Underscoring those tensions, an Afghan interpreter killed two U.S. service members Friday at a combat outpost elsewhere in Wardak province, a NATO official said.

Both attacks occurred in the Sayed Abad district, but the official said they didn't appear to be linked. First reports indicated three Americans were killed but NATO officials said one of the dead was an Afghan.

Saturday's fighting began about 3 a.m., when a joint U.S.-Afghan force traded fire with another Afghan unit manning the outpost, which the army said had been established 18 months ago to guard the highway. International troops then called in an air strike, killing the four Afghans, NATO and the Afghan ministry said.

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