[rad-green] US Dropped Record Number of Bombs on Afghanistan in 2019

*https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/01/28/admission-colossal-failure-us-dropped-record-number-bombs-afghanistan-2019
<https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/01/28/admission-colossal-failure-us-dropped-record-number-bombs-afghanistan-2019>Common
Dreams          January 28, 2020'An Admission of Colossal Failure': US
Dropped Record Number of Bombs on Afghanistan in 2019"Who are we bombing?
Why? What will it yield but more war?"by Eoin Higgins, staff writer*

[image: An F-15E Strike Eagle from Bagram Air Base deploys flares over
Afghanistan Nov. 12, 2008.]

*An F-15E Strike Eagle from Bagram Air Base deploys flares over Afghanistan
Nov. 12, 2008. (Photo: U.S. Air Force
<https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/120029/june-11-airpower-summary-f-15es-respond-to-enemy-attack/>/Staff
Sgt. Aaron Allmon)*

The U.S. military dropped a record-breaking number of bombs on Afghanistan
in 2019, the Air Force announced Tuesday, drawing criticism from observers
who wondered what purpose the continued barrage of the war-torn country
after over 18 years of war could serve.

"Isn't this an admission of colossal failure?" tweeted *CounterPunch* editor
Jeffrey St. Clair. "Who are we bombing? Why? What will it yield but more
war?"

The munitions data (pdf
<https://www.afcent.af.mil/Portals/82/Documents/Airpower%20summary/(U)%20APPROVED%20Dec%202019%20APS%20Data.pdf?ver=2020-01-27-023439-697>)
was published Monday by U.S. Air Forces Central Command. Air Force jets
dropped 7,423 bombs on Afghanistan in 2019, the highest number since
records began in 2006—beating out 2018.

*Stars and Stripes* explained
<https://www.stripes.com/news/middle-east/us-dropped-bombs-in-afghanistan-at-record-level-in-2019-1.616428>
how
the bombing affects the Afghan people:

The AFCENT figures include bomb and missile strikes, 105 mm shells fired by
AC-130 gunships and strafing fire from 20 mm cannons and up.

Airstrikes, predominantly conducted by U.S. forces, caused 579 of the 1,149
civilian war fatalities attributed to pro-government forces in Afghanistan
during the first nine months of 2019, according to the most recent United
Nations data.

As the war in Afghanistan continues, so too does a lack of accountability
with the American people from President Donald Trump's administration.

Two members of the president's Cabinet, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and
Acting Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, refused to attend a Congressional
hearing on the war Tuesday morning, drawing criticism from Subcommittee on
National Security chairman Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.).

Lynch said in his remarks that the president's strategy in the region is at
best incoherent.

"Despite repeated invitations, the Department of State and the Department
of Defense refused to make witnesses available to testify today," said
Lynch. "That's very disappointing, because I'm concerned that rather than
implementing a coherent Afghanistan strategy, U.S. policy in the region is
instead being driven by the latest impulse of the commander-in-chief."

U.S. airstrikes killed 15 civilians earlier in January, *Stars and Stripes *
reported
<https://www.stripes.com/news/middle-east/us-airstrike-killed-15-civilians-in-afghanistan-human-rights-group-says-1.615609>
last
week.

Afghanistan's Independent Human Rights Commission, which reported the
strike in a report, said the attack was "a clear violation of human rights."

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