The United States has a dilemma: It's trying to massively increase military pressure on the Taliban, but it's deploying only a few thousand additional troops to the country. It's answer: air power. Along with embedding more advisory groups with the Afghan National Security Forces to enhance their efficiency and capability, the United States will increase airstrikes on Taliban targets to deliver an outsize effect on the battlefield.

Washington has already dispatched additional aircraft to prowl Afghan airspace, including six F-16 fighter jets (bringing the total to 18), and is sending more B-52 bomber sorties to Afghanistan from air bases in the Arabian Gulf region. It's also stationing aerial refueling tankers in Afghanistan for the first time in some five years, enabling combat aircraft to loiter over the country longer.

The United States has loosened restrictions on airstrikes as well. Before, military officials had to be in contact with the Taliban before they were able to order airstrikes in an effort to avoid a sustained war with the group, but that's no longer the case. U.S. military officials now have more flexibility to conduct airstrikes on distant Taliban bases and interdiction strikes on targets of opportunity — as it already can on al Qaeda and Islamic State-Khorasan targets. Recent figures show the effect the practice is having: U.S. forces dropped 751 munitions on Afghan targets in September, approximately 50 percent more than in August and the most since the Battle of Sangin in 2010.

Air power will help slow Taliban momentum and will stiffen the Afghan security forces' defenses, but air power alone won't lead the United States to victory in Afghanistan. There simply aren't enough aircraft to be everywhere at once, and ground forces are what ultimately determine the success of counterinsurgency wars. Moreover, the strategy is risky. More airstrikes with fewer rules of engagement could lead to more civilian casualties, which the Taliban could take advantage of to win support and gain recruits.