Knocking out the air defenses opens the skies to many missions, such as dropping food to refugees and air dropping Special Operations forces. Transport planes have no armor and little protection against missiles of any kind. An SA-2 would make mincemeat of a C-130 or C-17.

The bombing campaign to date has hit several critical capabilities necessary for the Taliban to mount an effective defense. It's much harder to defend yourself when you can't communicate with your forces. It's much harder to defend yourself when your enemy is free to fly anywhere over your countryside at will. It's much harder to defend yourself when your forces are attacked and there isn't a thing you can do about it.