General

War in Afghanistan escalating

U.S. military deploying heavily armored battle tanks for first time

The U.S. military is deploying heavily armored battle tanks to Afghanistan for the first time since the war began in 2001, a move that signals an escalation of the conflict. According to a report in the Washington Post, NATO statistics and interviews with senior commanders suggest fighting in the past two months has been more intense than at any other point since 2001. The number of Special Operation missions has tripled over the past three months, for instance, and U.S. and NATO aircraft have deployed an increasing number of bombs and missiles, though exact figures haven’t been made available since 2001. The U.S. military has also been using an increasing number of high-explosive line charges in cities close to Kandahar, a weapon that had been used relatively sparingly before.

Washington Post

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