President Obama has given US military commanders in Afghanistan new authority to target the Taliban.
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Gen. John F. Campbell, who was the top USA commander in Afghanistan until March and was among the retired generals who signed last week’s letter to Obama, said in an interview Friday that although he had not seen the specifics of the White House decision to expand US military authorities, he welcomed the move.
The Obama administration is considering a plan that would allow the USA military to strike more targets with fewer restrictions throughout Afghanistan, officials told NBC News on Thursday.
The senior USA defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the decision would also allow greater use of US air power, particularly close air support. Currently, there are about 9,800 USA troops in Afghanistan, and the original plan was to draw that number down to 5,500 by the end of December.
The decision to grant US troops in Afghanistan expanded authorities does not influence the pending decision to drawdown of troops in the country from the current level of 9,800 personnel to 5,500 by the end of the year, the White House said Friday.
It also comes ahead of Obama’s eagerly anticipated decision on whether to forge ahead with a scheduled reduction in the numbers of USA troops from about 9,800 now to 5,500 by the start of 2017.
“It’s not just about a wide blanket to strike the Taliban whenever we want, it’s about the core mission of protecting the ANDSF (Afghan National Defense and Security Force)”, the official noted. The Taliban captured the major city of Kunduz in October of 2015 marking the first such victory since the beginning of USA combat operations in 2001. But strikes against the Taliban were largely halted at the end of 2014, when the US -led coalition’s combat role ended. Instead, he said, it is meant to allow flexibility for troops already partnering with conventional Afghan forces.
The White House says US forces are not taking on a new mission in Afghanistan but rather will “more proactively support” government forces. There are now 9,800 USA service members across Afghanistan.
Under the new rules, airstrikes will no longer have to be justified as necessary to defend USA troops.
Some 9,800 USA troops remain in Afghanistan in an advisory capacity, down from a peak of around 100,000 in March 2011. Only American special operations forces had been allowed to advise and assist Afghan special operations forces “outside the wire” and only limited airstrikes were authorized in cases of self-defense or as part of the counter-terrorism mission that targeted al-Qaeda.
Earnest said that should the drawdown plan progress as planned, the White House is confident that the 5,500 troops could carry out expanded authorities as necessary and act more “judiciously” because of them. Officials stressed that this will not allow routine US airstrikes against the Taliban, just provide authority to take those actions when commanders believe they are vital to the fight.
“This is using the forces we have.in a better way, basically, as we go through this fighting season, rather than being simply reactive”, Pentagon chief Ashton Carter said. They will now once again be allowed to also fight with conventional Afghan troops.
Both the current top United States commander in Afghanistan, Gen. John Nicholson, and his predecessor, Gen. John Campbell, who was replaced in March, have advocated for increases in U.S. troop numbers in discussions with Defense Secretary Ash Carter, according to AP. “Too much money was spent in too small a country with too little oversight”, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, or SIGAR, John Sopko, told Reuters earlier Thursday.
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“When they have the chance to have a battlefield gain, the commander will have the ability to augment that”, the defense official saidThursday.
