From a View to a Kill

TLDR

Late‑modern warfare is increasingly characterized by surgical, remotely operated drones that serve as diagnostic tools, providing intelligence and precision strikes, yet critics argue this reduces conflict to a video game where killing feels casual. The study aims to examine the role of U.S. Air Force‑operated drones in Afghanistan, beyond the well‑studied CIA‑drone campaigns in Pakistan.

Abstract

The proponents of late modern war like to argue that it has become surgical, sensitive and scrupulous, and remotely operated Unmanned Aerial Vehicles or ‘drones’ have become diagnostic instruments in contemporary debates over the conjunction of virtual and ‘virtuous’ war. Advocates for the use of Predators and Reapers in counterinsurgency and counterterrorism campaigns have emphasized their crucial role in providing intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance, in strengthening the legal armature of targeting, and in conducting precision-strikes. Critics claim that their use reduces late modern war to a video game in which killing becomes casual. Most discussion has focused on the covert campaign waged by CIA-operated drones in Pakistan, but it is also vitally important to interrogate the role of United States Air Force-operated drones in Afghanistan. In doing so, it becomes possible to see that the problem there may not be remoteness and detachment but, rather, the sense of proximity to ground troops inculcated by the video feeds from the aerial platforms.