U.S. Options Limited by Lack of Drones Over Syria

As a U.S.-led coalition of nations tries to prevent the Syrian town of Kobani from falling into the hands of the self-proclaimed Islamic State, failure to do so could have as much to do with resources as it does with the flaws of a strategy that, for now, is mostly reliant on airstrikes alone.

That's because U.S. Central Command, or Centcom, is balancing growing demands for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) assets across Iraq and Syria with keeping an eye on Afghanistan, where the United States and NATO allies still have roughly 40,000 troops stationed.

A senior Defense Department official told Foreign Policy that with so many of Centcom's ISR capabilities tied up in Afghanistan, there is a limitation on what can be done in Iraq and Syria.

Read the full article at Foreign Policy.