As of January, President Barack Obama declared that combat in Afghanistan was over.

A unit of F-16 fighter pilots at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan was recently quoted as saying they’re basically doing the same thing they were last year — combat.

Pilots from the 388th Fighter Wing’s 421st Fighter Squadron are still flying round-the-clock patrols, and they are still dropping bombs on the enemy. The airstrikes, which reached a 10-month high in October — are seen as vital to stopping insurgents from overrunning vulnerable areas around the country as Afghan forces struggle to contain a growing insurgency.

“For the Air Force, in many ways, the mission hasn’t changed,” said Capt. Bryan Bouchard, spokesman for the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing at Bagram. “We’re still here to support the guys on the ground with whatever they need.”

(Note that within the article fighter pilots are still identified by full name, even when they’re in the combat zone and talking about combat operations.  By contrast, UAV pilots remotely flying from the US aren’t identified by name “because of concerns the pilots could be targeted.”)

The enemy always gets a vote. It seems someone didn’t tell the bad guys the war was over.

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