US Dropped Record Number of Bombs in Afghanistan Last Year

In 2019, the United States dropped more bombs and munitions on Afghanistan than it has in any other year since the Air Force began keeping records in 2006, Stars and Stripes reports.

U.S. Air Forces Central Command data released Monday shows that American aircraft dropped 7,423 munitions in Afghanistan last year, and sorties by coalition aircraft almost reached 8,800 during that time, with more than one quarter conducting strikes. The previous record, 7,362 munitions, was set last year.

“The U.S. has been very explicitly using stepped-up attacks on the Taliban as a form of leverage-seeking,” said Laurel Miller, the former U.S. acting Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan.

In the first nine months of 2019, airstrikes that were typically conducted by the U.S. were accountable for 579 of 1,149 civilian war fatalities that were attributed to forces fighting for the government of Afghanistan, according to data from the United Nations. A U.S. drone strike earlier this month in the western province of Herat killed 15 civilians, three of whom were children, according to the country’s Independent Human Rights Commission.

“The commission has repeatedly called on domestic and foreign forces to be more careful in conducting military operations so that civilians are not harmed,” the commission stated.

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