NATO aircraft in Afghanistan increase surveillance flights
NATO has drastically scaled back the number of air strikes it conducts in Afghanistan while boosting the number of aircraft surveillance missions.
Surveillance missions for NATO's aircraft flying in Afghanistan have more than quadrupled over the past two years as part of a continuing trend toward fewer bombing missions against Taliban forces in favor of more intelligence-oriented missions, reports Noah Shachtman at Wired's Danger Room blog.
The most likely catalyst for fewer air strikes is that Coalition forces are getting in fewer firefights with Taliban forces than in previous years, the blog states.
NATO currently flies about 85 intelligence missions daily over Afghanistan.