The biggest threats to U.S. close air support in this theatre will be the Stingers and other MANPADS possessed by the Taliban, and small arms fire. Our current bombing campaign will have almost zero effect on these kinds of weapons.

Again, the Taliban air defense system is laughable in the face of overwhelming U.S. air power, and I question the need to preemptively neutralize it given the potential for mistakes and collateral damage.

If the US and USSR had gone to battle during the Cold War, USAF generals would have been dancing in the aisles to have reduced Red air defenses to the levels now found in Afghanistan, and our attack aircraft certainly would be capable of operating freely in such an environment.

In applying a book solution to the Afghanistan problem, the Air Force generals may be reading from the wrong book. Wild Weasels could easily destroy any Taliban air defense radar/missile sites foolish enough to track our planes, and doing so would help the US maintain the moral high ground.

As it is, a relentless bombing campaign in Afghanistan against targets of questionable value, and in the face of growing collateral damage, is certainly going to make attaining that moral high ground a slippery slope, indeed.

sp