With Increased US Airstrikes, Taliban Forced to Change Tactics

The surge in U.S. airstrikes in Afghanistan since U.S. President Donald Trump announced a new strategy for South Asia over a year ago has made fighting more difficult for insurgents, forcing them to change tactics.

Smoke rises after an air strike by a U.S. aircraft on positions during an ongoing an operation against Islamic State (IS) terrorists in Kot district of Nangarhar province on Feb. 16, 2017. Noorullah Shirzada/AFP/Getty Images

KABUL, Afghanistan—The surge in U.S. airstrikes in Afghanistan since U.S. President Donald Trump announced a new strategy for South Asia over a year ago has made fighting more difficult for insurgents, forcing them to change tactics.

The U.S. Air Force dropped 746 weapons over Afghanistan in July, the highest monthly total since November 2010—at the height of the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan, when around 100,000 troops were deployed there, almost 10 times more than now.