By AP
Fort Campbell, KY – Soldiers headed for Afghanistan are getting new training on when to use high-powered weapons as the U.S. looks to reduce civilian deaths. Troops with the 101st Airborne Division have been spending weeks in the woods on the Kentucky-Tennessee line learning new tactics to fight the Taliban. The updated methods include using smoke bombs and smaller explosions to let spotters get close enough to targets to decide whether to launch a heavy assault.
Officers say the Taliban and insurgents deliberately stay close to civilians to make it harder for coalition troops to avoid killing bystanders. So soldiers learn to carefully observe the enemy and the battlefield before attacking.