After the ground withdrawal: US Forces resort to air drop to counter terrorism

Ahmed Sultan

The United States has continued to provide supplies to Kurdish, Iraqi and Afghan forces over the past period, despite withdrawing from Kurdish-controlled areas on the Turkish-Syrian border, according to reports from the US Air Force Central Command.

According to reports issued by the US Air Force Command, the volume of supplies delivered by US forces during 2019 exceeded the supplies delivered by the United States to Iraqi and Kurdish forces during the battles to retake the Iraqi cities of Mosul and Raqqa in 2016 and 2017.

US supplies to Kurdish forces in the past period are the second largest since the launch of Operation Determined Steel (ISIS) in 2014.

The newspaper “Military Times” said that the Central Command of the US Air Force refused to answer questions I asked about the recent increase in supplies to the Kurdish forces by airdrop.

A former Air Force Command official, who declined to be named, said that the United States had increased the amount of equipment and food it provided to Kurdish forces by air supply against the Kurds allied with America.

The former US official added that the increase in airdrops of equipment and weapons in the Kurdish areas, comes as a result of the logistical crisis left by the US withdrawal from Syria, pointing out that these supplies are intended to support and encourage US allies to continue the war against terrorist organizations.

According to the US Air Force Command, the United States recently dropped 452 tons of aid to the Kurdish forces, the second largest supply of US forces to the Kurds since the start of the determination process.

In Afghanistan, in 2019, US forces dropped 122 tons of aid to government forces and their allies fighting ISIS and the Taliban, following the withdrawal of some 2,000 US troops stationed in Afghanistan.

According to the Military Times, providing military assistance to US allies is a safer way of being on the ground and providing aid through US military supply convoys, as these convoys may be vulnerable to attacks by terrorist organizations.

In January, ISIS launched an attack on a joint patrol of US and Kurdish forces that killed a number of US soldiers.

President Donald Trump issued a decision to withdraw US ground troops from northeastern Syria, but stressed that a special US commando force would remain to protect oil facilities in those areas to prevent ISIS from taking control.

The US Department of Defense confirmed that surveillance and reconnaissance operations carried out by intelligence aircraft, and drones will continue to monitor IS cells operating in Syria.