KABUL-organised training programme aimed at bringing accuracy to airstrikes on ground targets.
The training course, seeking to help reduce civilian casualties, includes approximately 60 soldiers at a military range in central Logar province, a media report said on Friday.
According to the International Business Times, 100 Afghan Tactical Air Controllers are to be trained by March 2017 -- a time when mountain snow begins to melt and Taliban step up their offensive.
Afghanistan had 41 aircraft capable of conducting air strikes until June, compared to the 28 it had by end-2015. With the rise in the number of air strikes, there has been an increase in civilian casualties.
About 133 Afghan citizens are said to have been killed and 159 others wounded in the first nine months of 2016, going up by 72 percent from corresponding period in 2015.
Under air control training programme, soldiers and pilots are practising coordinated airstrikes, with warplanes and helicopters pounding old cars used as targets on the ground.
PAN Monitor/mud
