sorties were flown during Operation Northern Watch, and 40,000 personnel had been deployed at some point during the operation. USAFE also sent aircraft and personnel to help man Operation Southern Watch, operating from Saudi Arabia under Central Command Air Forces. Balkans operations USAFE also provided air protection over the skies of Bosnia-Herzegovina in Operation Deny Flight. Along with allies from NATO countries, U.S. aircrews bombed targets in Bosnia-Herzegovina during Operation Deliberate Force, which paved the way for the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement. USAFE then helped deploy the Implementation Force (I-FOR) and its equipment to Bosnia for Operation Joint Endeavor and sustained them by airlift. USAFE forces again mobilized in March 1999, when NATO intervened in Kosovo to halt a Yugoslav counter-insurgency targeting the Kosovo Liberation Army. USAFE forces provided air-support for Albanian fighters on the ground. Albanian refugees appeared after the beginning of hostilities. Efforts to find a diplomatic solution collapsed, resulting in Operation Allied Force–the NATO-led air war over Kosovo. The 78-day operation ended 20 June culminating in the withdrawal of Serb forces from Kosovo and the eventual return of refugees. USAFE's 3rd Air Force led Joint Task Force Shining Hope, established to assist the hundreds of thousands of refugees who left Kosovo because of war. USAFE continues to contribute to NATO-led forces promoting peace and stability in Kosovo. Afghanistan and Iraq During the War in Afghanistan, USAFE has supported an air bridge from Europe to Asia that delivered 3,300 tons of humanitarian daily rations to northern Afghanistan, opened the Manus base in Kyrgyzstan, and established a medical evacuation network that moved nearly 4,000 patients. USAFE deployed 24 fighter aircraft, eight KC-135 Stratotankers and nearly 2,400 people in Operation Iraqi Freedom. It opened an important airfield in northern Iraq and provided critical en route support to deploying forces, not to mention vital logistical and medical support to forward-deployed forces. USAFE subsequently supported Operation New Dawn and Operation Inherent Resolve. Today, USAFE airmen are engaged in a wide range of active U.S. military efforts in Europe and Africa, including realistic U.S. and NATO exercises and operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Somalia. On 20 April 2012, USAFAF was merged with USAFE to become United States Air Forces in Europe – Air Forces Africa (USAFE-AFAFRICA). The merger was a result of Seventeenth Air Force at Ramstein Air Base inactivating in April 2012 as part of an Air Force cost savings effort. USAFE