U.S. air power in Afghanistan at five-year low as aid to Afghan forces wanes

By Krista Mahr KABUL (Reuters) - The United States’ use of air power in Afghanistan in the first two months of 2015 was its lowest in five years, as the reduced international military coalition sharply cut battlefield aid to Afghan security forces. The reduction reflects the smaller U.S. role in its longest war, even as Washington mulls slowing down the planned drawdown of American troops. None of the 503 air support sorties by American air assets this year have been flown to support Afghan security forces in battle, a coalition spokesman said. “The vast majority of those missions were in support of the U.S. counter-terrorism mission,” Col. Brian Tribus, a spokesman for Resolute Support, the new non-combat NATO mission that launched in January, wrote in an email.

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