US Air Force resumes strategic bombing operations in Afghanistan

The U.S Air Force Chief of Staff General David L. Goldfein has announced that Boeing B-52H Stratofortress strategic bombers have completed airstrikes against targets in Afghanistan for the first time in 10 years.

"We got the B-52 back in the fight in Afghanistan and Iraq," Tolo News quoted him, as saying in an official release on Tuesday.

General Goldfein's remarks suggest that the Air Force's B-52H detachment at the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar has flown nearly 270 sorties since April.

It has dropped over 1,300 bombs in more than 325 strikes, in Operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq and Syria.

"We have the B-52 contributing to a significant ground effort and employing weapons in close proximity of friendly troops who are under attack [and] who are preparing the battlefield in new ways," he added.

Though the aging bomber flew two sorties in Afghanistan recently, dropping 27 bombs in two counter-terrorism strikes, the Air Force did not specify when B-52H operations resumed in the country.