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The governor of Pakistan's wealthiest and most populous province was shot dead in the capital Tuesday by one of his own guards, who later told interrogators that he was angry about the politician's stance against the country's blasphemy law, officials said.

The killing of Punjab province Governor Salman Taseer was the most high-profile assassination of a political figure in Pakistan since former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in December 2007, and it rattled a country already dealing with crises ranging from a potential collapse of the government to a virulent Islamist insurgency.

The killing could also add to concerns about inroads by Islamist extremists and fundamentalists into Pakistan's security establishment and represented another blow to the country's Pakistan's embattled secular movement.

A senior Islamabad police officer told CBS News' Farhan Bokhari that the suspect, police commando Mumtaz Qadri, told investigators he was driven to attack Taseer out of revenge for the late governor's criticism of Pakistan's controversial Islamic blasphemy laws.

Taseer was a member of Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party and a close associate of the president. The governor was vocal on a range of subjects, even using Twitter to get across his views.

Punjab is a major base and recruiting ground for Pakistan's powerful military and security establishment, which many fear is coming under the increasing influence of religious fundamentalists as Islamist movements have spread in Pakistan. Some analysts have suggested that fundamentalist members of the security establishment pose a greater threat of Pakistan nuclear proliferation than militant groups such as the Taliban.

In recent days, as the People's Party has faced the loss of its coalition partners, the 56-year-old Taseer had insisted that the government will survive. But it was his very public stance against the blasphemy law that apparently led to his killing.

Pakistan's blasphemy law has come under greater scrutiny in recent weeks after a Christian woman, Asia Bibi, was sentenced to death for allegedly insulting Islam's Prophet Muhammad. The law effectively orders death for anyone convicted of insulting Islam.

Taseer had said Bibi should be granted a pardon, a stance that earned him opprobrium from Islamist groups across the country as well as threats, according to Shahbaz Bhatti, the minister for minorities.

"I was under huge pressure sure 2 cow down b4 rightest pressure on blasphemy. Refused. Even if I'm the last man standing," Taseer wrote on Twitter on Dec. 31.

"He was the most courageous voice after Benazir Bhutto on the rights of women and religious minorities," said a crying Farahnaz Ispahani, an aide to Zardari and friend of Taseer. "God, we will miss him."

A Pakistani intelligence official told Bokhari on condition of anonymity that investigators were searching for any clues to suggest Qadri, the policeman, had links to militant groups.

"Here we have the case of a lone warrior. What we want to investigate is if there were links between this individual and militant groups who would want to destabilize Pakistan," the official said.

Qadri is 26 and from Barakhao, a neighborhood on the outskirts of Islamabad, said Interior Minister Rehman Malik.

Dozens of Pakistanis are sentenced to death each year under the blasphemy law, which dates back to the 1980s military rule of Gen. Mohammad Zia ul-Haq. Most cases are thrown out by higher courts and no executions have been carried out, but human rights activists have long complained that the law is used to settle rivalries and persecute religious minorities.

Under pressure from Islamist parties, the People's Party said recently it would not pursue changes to the law.

Bhatti, the minorities minister, said Pakistan's religious minorities would join the People's Party in its plans to have a two-week mourning period for Taseer. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani also announced a three-day period of national mourning and ordered flags lowered to half-mast.

Police official Mohammad Iftikhar said Taseer was gunned down after he reached Kohsar Market, a shopping center in Islamabad popular with Westerners and wealthy Pakistanis. Five other people were wounded as other security personnel responded to the attack.

"It was one shot first and then a burst. I think nine or 10 shots," said R.A. Khan, a witness who was drinking coffee at the time. "I rushed and saw policemen over another police commando, who was lying on road with his face down."

Taseer was believed to be on his way to see someone for a meal, Malik said. Other members of his security detail were being questioned, Malik said, who added that the security for Taseer was provided by the Punjab government.

"We will see whether it was an individual act or someone had asked him" to do it, Malik said of the attacker.

Bullet casings and blood covered much of the scene at the market, and police quickly cordoned off the area. At the hospital, People's Party supporters wept and beat their heads after the news.

Outside his residence in the eastern city of Lahore, hundreds of supporters chanted slogans on his behalf, while in the central city of Multan dozens of People's Party supporters burned tires and demanded the attackers be punished.

Human rights activists were dismayed at Taseer's death, especially considering the difficulties the People's Party has had in advancing any legislation on human rights because of its alliances with Islamist parties.

"Taseer showed himself to be a rare politician, willing to risk his life in espousing an unambiguous position against discrimination and abuse," said Ali Dayan Hasan, senior South Asia researcher for Human Rights Watch.

After Taseer was nominated for the governor's post in Punjab, the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-N expressed reservations, and he frequently clashed with that party. PML-N leader Shahbaz Sharif visited the hospital where Taseer's body was taken and promised an inquiry into the death.

The promoters behind the late Michael Jackson's London residency have asked for a lawsuit against them to be thrown out.

AEG were the subject of legal action by Katherine Jackson, the mother of the late star - who died of acute Propofol intoxication in June 2009 - who accused the firm of causing her son's death by pushing him to rehearse too hard for a planned run of 50 concerts, despite his ill health.

The promoters have now filed an objection to the suit in Los Angeles Superior Court, arguing the "legal sufficiency to the pleading".

In the court documents obtained by RadarOnline.com, AEG - and Michael's longtime collaborator, choreographer Kenny Ortega - state: "The complaint gets one thing right, Michael Jackson's death on June 25, 2009 was a tragic event. It was tragic for his children. It was tragic for his fans. And it was tragic for the Defendants here, who had labored tirelessly to make a reality of Michael Jackson's dream of a triumphant return to the world's stage.

"Otherwise, however, the complaint gets both the law and facts entirely wrong.

"Not only do the plaintiffs fail to allege any cognizable legal claim (indeed, their novel theories go far beyond those previously recognized by any court), but many of their allegations are proven false by the very documents they refer to and upon which they necessarily rely.

"As such, the complaint warrants immediate dismissal with prejudice."

Katherine's suit, which was filed in September, alleged the firm specifically "selected, hired, and controlled" Dr. Conrad Murray - who has been charged with involuntary manslaughter of the singer - to ensure her son fulfilled his concert obligations regardless of his health.

Her legal documents claimed: "Indeed, AEG demanded and required that Michael Jackson be treated by this particular doctor to ensure that Michael Jackson would attend all rehearsals and shows on the tour.

"AEG had a responsibility to treat him safely and to not put him in harms' way.

"AEG, despite its knowledge of Michael Jackson's physical condition, breached those duties by putting its desire for massive profits from the tour over the health and safety of Michael Jackson."

AEG have, however, countered these claims by Katherine.

They responded: "Michael Jackson was not helpless or incompetent; he lived in his own home, negotiated his own contracts, engaged his own attorney's and care for his own family. He at all times retained the option of refusing Dr. Murray's services, or of canceling his agreement with AEG.

"Similarly, defendants' alleged request that Dr. Murray assist Michael Jackson in attending rehearsals could not conceivably have put Defendants on notice that Dr. Murray was likely to administer anesthesia in Michael Jackson's home."

The next scheduled hearing in the case will take place on February 2, 2011.

The severed head of a young man was found hanging from a bridge in the Mexican border city of Tijuana on Monday.

The Baja California state attorney general's office said the head belonged to a man between 25 and 30 years old.

It had several bullet wounds and was hung using a metallic ring and a nylon rope. A threatening message was found nearby on the bridge.

Hours earlier, a woman between 30 and 35 years old was found shot to death in another Tijuana neighborhood, also with a threatening message left nearby.

Authorities have blamed recent cartel-style violence in Tijuana on feuding between rivals and loyalists of Teodoro "El Teo" Garcia Simental, an alleged drug lord arrested last January.

Farther east along Mexico's border with the United States, Mexican soldiers on Monday found an unfinished tunnel under a house in the city of Nogales, across from Nogales, Arizona.

The army's 45th Military Zone command said the tunnel was dug about 5 feet (1.5 meters) beneath the surface and stretched almost 100 feet (30 meters), apparently just far enough to reach U.S. territory.

The command said in a statement the tunnel ended abruptly and had probably been intended to move drugs across the border.

The mouth of the tunnel was found in one of the rooms of the house in Mexico, which appeared abandoned. There were no arrests nor were any drugs found at the scene.

Nogales is located in northern Sonora state, and on Monday unidentified gunmen shot to death the state's interim prison director, Erasto Ortiz Valencia, outside his home.

State prosecutors' spokesman Jose Larrinaga said Ortiz Valencia died of three bullet wounds. He had been in office only 10 days when he died; his predecessor was fired after he was linked to the escape of a murder suspect.

The assistant police chief of the city of Empalme, near the coastal city of Guaymas, was also shot to death Monday by a gunmen who fired an assault rifle from an SUV.

In the Pacific coast state of Guerrero, police reported Monday that two boys ages 14 and 17 were shot to death in the remote mountain town of Alcozahuca, near the Oaxaca state line.

The assailants fled after killing the boys with assault rifles late Sunday. While there was no immediate evidence the killings were drug-related, Mexican cartels have been recruiting youths as young as 14.

Also in Guerrero, police in the resort of Acapulco reported Monday they had found the bound bodies of four young men dumped on a main boulevard.

The men had been killed with guns and knives and were found blindfolded and their hands or feet tied. Handwritten messages of the kind frequently left by drug cartels were found near the bodies, but Guerrero state police, in keeping with policy, did not release the contents of those messages.

WikiLeaks has brought to light a series of disturbing insinuations and startling truths in the last year, some earth-shattering, others simply confirmations of our darkest suspicions about the way the world works. Thanks to founder Julian Assange's legal situation in Sweden (and potentially the United States) as well as his media grandstanding, it is easy to forget how important and interesting some of WikiLeaks' revelations have been.

WikiLeaks revelations from 2010 have included simple gossip about world leaders: Russia's PM Vladimir Putin is playing Batman to President Dmitri Medvedev's Robin; Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is crazy and was once slapped by a Revolutionary Guard chief for being so; Libya's Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi has a hankering for his voluptuous blond Ukrainian nurse; and France's President Nicholas Sarkozy simply can't take criticism.

CBS News Special Report: WikiLeaks

However, WikiLeaks' revelations also have many major implications for world relations. The following is a list of the more impactful WikiLeaks revelations from 2010, grouped by region.

The United States

- The U.S. Army considered WikiLeaks a national security threat as early as 2008, according to documents obtained and posted by WikiLeaks in March, 2010.

- Then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and his top commanders repeatedly, knowingly lied to the American public about rising sectarian violence in Iraq beginning in 2006, according to the cross-referencing of WikiLeaks' leaked Iraq war documents and former Washington Post Baghdad Bureau Chief Ellen Knickmeyer's recollections.

- The Secretary of State's office encouraged U.S. diplomats at the United Nations to spy on their counterparts, including collecting data about the U.N. secretary general, his team and foreign diplomats, including credit card account numbers, according to documents from WikiLeaks U.S. diplomatic cable release. Later cables reveal the CIA draws up an annual "wish-list" for the State Department, which one year included the instructions to spy on the U.N.

- The Obama administration worked with Republicans during his first few months in office to protect Bush administration officials facing a criminal investigation overseas for their involvement in establishing policies that some considered torture. A "confidential" April 17, 2009, cable sent from the US embassy in Madrid obtained by WikiLeaks details how the Obama administration, working with Republicans, leaned on Spain to derail this potential prosecution.

- WikiLeaks released a secret State Department cable that provided a list of sites around the world vital to U.S. national security, from mines in Africa to labs in Europe.

Iraq

- A U.S. Army helicopter allegedly gunned down two journalists in Baghdad in 2007. WikiLeaks posted a 40-minute video on its website in April, showing the attack in gruesome detail, along with an audio recording of the pilots during the attack.

- Iran's military intervened aggressively in support of Shiite combatants in Iraq, offering weapons, training and sanctuary, according to an October, 2010, WikiLeaks release of thousands of secret documents related to the Iraq war.

- According to one tabulation, there have been 100,000 causalities, mostly civilian, in Iraq - greater than the numbers previously made public, many of them killed by American troops but most of them were killed by other Iraqis, according to the WikiLeaks Iraq documents dump.

- U.S. authorities failed to investigate hundreds of reports of abuse, torture, rape and even murder by Iraqi police and soldiers whose conduct appears to be systematic and normally unpunished, according to the WikiLeaks Iraq documents dump.

Afghanistan

- U.S. special-operations forces have targeted militants without trial in secret assassination missions, and many more Afghan civilians have been killed by accident than previously reported, according to the WikiLeaks Afghanistan war document dump.

- Afghan President Hamid Karzai freed suspected drug dealers because of their political connections, according to a secret diplomatic cable. The cable, which supports the multiple allegations of corruption within the Karzai government, said that despite repeated rebukes from U.S. officials in Kabul, the president and his attorney general authorized the release of detainees. Previous cables accused Karzai's half-brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai, of being a corrupt narcotics trafficker.

Asia

- Pakistan's government has allowed members of its spy network to hold strategy sessions on combating American troops with members of the Taliban, while Pakistan has received more than $1 billion a year in aid from Washington to help combat militants, according to a July, 2010, WikiLeaks release of thousands of files on the Afghanistan war.

- A stash of highly enriched uranium capable of providing enough material for multiple "dirty bombs" has been waiting in Pakistan for removal by an American team for more than three years but has been held up by the country's government, according to leaked classified State Department documents.

- Despite sustained denials by US officials spanning more than a year, U.S.military Special Operations Forces have been conducting offensive operations inside Pakistan, helping direct U.S. drone strikes and conducting joint operations with Pakistani forces against Al Qaeda and Taliban forces in north and south Waziristan and elsewhere in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, according to secret cables released as part of the Wikileaks document dump.

- China was behind the online attack of Google, according to leaked diplomatic cables. The electronic intrusion was "part of a coordinated campaign of computer sabotage carried out by government operatives, private security experts and internet outlaws recruited by the Chinese government."

- Secret State Department cables show a South Korean official quoted as saying that North Korea's collapse is likely to happen "two to three years" after the death of the current dictator, Kim Jong Il. The U.S. is already planning for the day North Korea implodes from its own economic woes. China has "no will" to use its economic leverage to force North Korea to change its policies and the Chinese official who is the lead negotiator with North Korea is "the most incompetent official in China."

- North Korea is secretly helping the military dictatorship in Myanmar build nuclear and missile sites in its jungles, according to a leaked diplomatic cable. Although witnesses told the embassy that construction is at an early stage, officials worry Myanmar could one day possess a nuclear bomb.

- Five years ago, the International Committee of the Red Cross told U.S. diplomats in New Delhi that the Indian government "condones torture" and systematically abused detainees in the disputed region of Kashmir. The Red Cross told the officials that hundreds of detainees were subjected to beatings, electrocutions and acts of sexual humiliation, the Guardian newspaper of London reported Thursday evening.

- The British government has been training a Bangladeshi paramilitary force condemned by human rights organisations as a "government death squad", leaked US embassy cables have revealed. Members of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), which has been held responsible for hundreds of extra-judicial killings in recent years and is said to routinely use torture, have received British training in "investigative interviewing techniques" and "rules of engagement".

- Secret U.S. diplomatic cables reveal that BP suffered a blowout after a gas leak in the Caucasus country of Azerbaijan in September 2008, a year and a half before another BP blowout killed 11 workers and started a leak that gushed millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

Middle East

- Saudi Arabia's rulers have deep distrust for some fellow Muslim countries, especially Pakistan and Iran, despite public appearances, according to documents from the late November, 2010, WikiLeaks U.S. diplomatic cable dump. King Abdullah called Pakistan's president Asif Ali Zardari "the greatest obstacle" to the country's progress and he also repeatedly urged the United States to attack Iran to destroy its nuclear program to stop Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon.

- Iranian Red Crescent ambulances were used to smuggle weapons to Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group during its 2006 war with Israel, according to the leaked U.S. diplomatic memos.

- In a leaked diplomatic memo, dated two weeks after elections that landed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in office, a senior American diplomat said that during a meeting a few days before "Netanyahu expressed support for the concept of land swaps, and emphasized that he did not want to govern the West Bank and Gaza but rather to stop attacks from being launched from there."

- The United States was secretly given permission from Yemen's president to attack the al Qaeda group in his country that later attempted to blow up planes in American air space. President Ali Abdullah Saleh told John Brennan, President Obama's counterterrorism adviser, in a leaked diplomatic cable from September 2009 that the U.S. had an "open door" on terrorism in Yemen.

- Contrary to public statements, the Obama administration actually helped fuel conflict in Yemen. The U.S. was shipping arms to Saudi Arabia for use in northern Yemen even as it denied any role in the conflict.

- Saudi Arabia is one of the largest origin points for funds supporting international terrorism, according to a leaked diplomatic cable. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged U.S. diplomats to do more to stop the flow of money to Islamist militant groups from donors in Saudi Arabia. The Saudi government, Clinton wrote, was reluctant to cut off money being sent to the Taliban in Afghanistan and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in Pakistan.

- The U.S. is failing to stop the flow of arms to Middle Eastern militant groups. Hamas and Hezbollah are still receiving weapons from Iran, North Korea, and Syria, secret diplomatic cables allege.

- A storage facility housing Yemen's radioactive material was unsecured for up to a week after its lone guard was removed and its surveillance camera was broken, a secret U.S. State Department cable released by WikiLeaks revealed Monday. "Very little now stands between the bad guys and Yemen's nuclear material," a Yemeni official said on January 9 in the cable.

- Israel destroyed a Syrian nuclear reactor in 2007, constructed with apparent help from North Korea, fearing it was built to make a bomb. In a leaked diplomatic cable obtained by the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth, then-US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice wrote the Israelis targeted and destroyed the Syrian nuclear reactor just weeks before it was to be operational.

- Diplomatic cables recently released by WikiLeaks indicate authorities in the United Arab Emirates debated whether to keep quiet about the high-profile killing of a Hamas operative in Dubai in January. The documents also show the UAE sought U.S. help in tracking down details of credit cards Dubai police believe were used by a foreign hit squad involved in the killing. The spy novel-like slaying, complete with faked passports and assassins in disguise, is widely believed to be the work of Israeli secret agents.

- WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange told Al Jazeera network that some of the unpublished cables show "Top officials in several Arab countries have close links with the CIA, and many officials keep visiting US embassies in their respective countries voluntarily to establish links with this key US intelligence agency. These officials are spies for the U.S. in their countries."

Europe

- Of the 500 or so tactical nuclear weapons in the U.S. arsenal, it is known that about 200 are deployed throughout Europe. Leaked diplomatic cables reveal that dozens of U.S. tactical nuclear weapons are in Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium.

- NATO had secret plans to defend the Baltic states and Poland from an attack by Russia, according to a leaked diplomatic cable. NATO officials had feared "an unnecessary increase in NATO-Russia tensions," and wanted no public discussions of their contingency plans to defend Baltic states from Russian attack.

- The Libyan government promised "enormous repercussions" for the U.K. if the release of Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, the Lockerbie bomber, was not handled properly, according to a leaked diplomatic cable. The Libyan government threatened "harsh, immediate" consequences if the man jailed for the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 died in prison in Scotland.

- Pope Benedict impeded an investigation into alleged child sex abuse within the Catholic Church, according to a leaked diplomatic cable. Not only did Pope Benedict refuse to allow Vatican officials to testify in an investigation by an Irish commission into alleged child sex abuse by priests, he was also reportedly furious when Vatican officials were called upon in Rome.

- Sinn Fein leaders Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness carried out negotiations for the Good Friday agreement with Irish then-prime minister Bertie Ahern while the two had explicit knowledge of a bank robbery that the Irish Republican Army was planning to carry out, according to a WikiLeaks cable. Ahern figured Adams and McGuinness knew about the 26.5 million pound Northern Bank robbery of 2004 because they were members of the "IRA military command."

Africa

- Anglo-Dutch oil giant Royal Dutch Shell PLC has infiltrated the highest levels of government in Nigeria. A high-ranking executive for the international Shell oil company once bragged to U.S. diplomats, as reported in a leaked diplomatic cable, that the company's employees had so well infiltrated the Nigerian government that officials had "forgotten" the level of the company's access.

- Mozambique is fast on its way to becoming a narco-state because of close ties between drug smugglers and the southeastern African nation's government, according to U.S. Embassy cables released by WikiLeaks. The cables say cocaine, heroin and other drugs come in from South America and Asia, and are then flown to Europe or sent overland to neighboring South Africa for sale.

- Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe-appointed attorney general announced he was investigating Mugabe's chief opposition leader on treason charges based exclusively on the contents of a WikiLeaks' leaked cable. The cable claimed Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai encouraged Western sanctions against his own country to induce Mugabe into giving up some political power.

Americas/Caribbean

- Mexican President Felipe Calderon told a U.S. official last year that Latin America "needs a visible U.S. presence" to counter Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's growing influence in the region, according to a U.S. State Department cable leaked to WikiLeaks.

- A newly released confidential U.S. diplomatic cable predicts Cuba's economic situation could become "fatal" within two to three years, and details concerns voiced by diplomats from other countries, including China, that the communist-run country has been slow to adopt reforms.

- The Honduran military, Supreme Court and National Congress conspired in 2009 in what constituted an illegal and unconstitutional coup against the Executive Branch, according to a leaked diplomatic cable. However, the constitution itself may be deficient in terms of providing clear procedures for dealing with alleged illegal acts by the President and resolving conflicts between the branches of government.

- Venezuela's deteriorating oil industry and its growing economic problems are taking a toll on President Hugo Chavez's popularity. In one confidential leaked diplomatic cable dated Oct. 15, 2009, the U.S. Embassy said "equipment conditions have deteriorated drastically" since the government expropriated some 80 oil service companies earlier that year. It said safety and maintenance at the now state-owned oil facilities were in a "terrible state."

- China has been reselling Venezuela's cheap oil at a profit, according to a classified U.S. document released by WikiLeaks. President Hugo Chavez was upset that China apparently profited by selling fuel to other countries, fuel that it had sold China at a discount in order to gain favor. The cable also describes falling crude output in Venezuela caused by a host of problems within the national oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or PDVSA.

- Jamaica's counter-drug efforts have been so sluggish that exasperated Cuban officials privately griped about their frustrations to a U.S. drug enforcement official, according to a U.S. diplomatic cable. The communique released by WikiLeaks said Cuban officials painted their Caribbean neighbor to the south as chronically uncooperative in stopping drug smugglers who use Cuban waters and airspace to transport narcotics destined for the U.S.

- A leaked U.S. diplomatic cable published Saturday depicts the leader of Mexico's army "lamenting" its lengthy role in the anti-drug offensive, but expecting it to last between seven and 10 more years. The cable says Mexican Defense Secretary Gen. Guillermo Galvan Galvan mistrusts other Mexican law enforcement agencies and prefers to work separately, because corrupt officials had leaked information in the past.

- McDonald's tried to delay the US government's implementation of a free-trade agreement in order to put pressure on El Salvador to appoint neutral judges in a $24m lawsuit it was fighting in the country. The revelation of the McDonald's strategy to ensure a fair hearing for a long-running legal battle against a former franchisee comes from a leaked US embassy cable dated 15 February 2006.

In 2010, WikiLeaks released only about 2,000 of the approximate 250,000 cables it claims to possess, and the pace of those releases dropped dramatically as the holidays approached. If Assange's promises are to be believed, 2011 will be another important year for learning about the hidden forces that drive our world.

The Air Force has more than doubled the number of airmen in Afghanistan who call in airstrikes, as the use of bombs, missiles and strafing runs has spiked to its highest level since the war began.

The Air Force has increased the number of joint terminal attack controllers — the airmen who work with soldiers to coordinate airstrikes — to 134 last year in Afghanistan, up from 53 in 2009, said Maj. Ike Williams, an operations officer at Air Combat Command in Langley, Va.

The increasing reliance on airstrikes and the troops who direct them comes as the U.S. military has raised its troop level in Afghanistan to 100,000, including 30,000 deployed last year.

Those troops often rely on bombs to repel attacks and help them destroy Taliban strongholds.

"What you're seeing is a reaction to the enemy on the ground," said Air Force Col. Richard Gannon, an air operations commander in an interview Sunday from Kabul. "It's a resilient enemy and an enemy that's persistent."

The more aggressive approach, military analysts say, may provide better protection for U.S. and NATO troops and help kill insurgents, but it also can infuriate Afghan officials and civilians.

"This is a main irritant between the Afghan population and NATO," said Arturo Munoz, a political scientist at the RAND Corp. and a former top counterterrorism official at the CIA.

"If you had to single out one main complaint, without a doubt airstrikes and civilian casualties caused by airstrikes would be it," Munoz said.

There are signs, however, that the coalition's emphasis on reducing civilian casualties is working. The number of civilian casualties — including death and injuries — caused by coalition and Afghan forces in the first 10 months of last year was 742, a 18% decrease over the same period in 2009, according to a United Nations report.

On Jan. 1, a Taliban insurgent responsible for makeshift bomb attacks was killed in a "precision airstrike," according to NATO. Air crews waited until he had moved into an open field, away from civilians, before killing him.

The troops who control airstrikes are in high demand in Afghanistan and in many cases spend as much time in combat as they do at home, Williams said. They spend six months or a year embedded with Army units and some have deployed five or more times.

They serve as a go-between with Army commanders and pilots, coordinating bomb drops or aerial surveillance of insurgents.

In October, they helped coordinate 1,000 missions in which warplanes dropped bombs or fired missiles or guns, the most ever, topping the previous peak of 984 in June 2008.

To keep pace with demand in Afghanistan and to embed them with units throughout the Army, the Air Force has increased the number of airmen trained for the job. There are 630 of them now, and the Air Force plans to have 1,038 by 2014, Williams said.

Training can take four years, he said, and about a third who enter will fail.

They carry what a normal soldier would carry plus a radio and other equipment to call in airstrikes. It can sometimes exceed 100 pounds of gear.

"You've got to be physically tough, and you have to be savvy," Williams said.

Barry Watts, of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, said the Air Force has needed more controllers for years. The more aggressive use of air power, he said, reflects an effort by the coalition to hammer insurgents before troop withdrawals begin this year.