Several officials said the decision was made in recent days to expand the authority of US commanders to strike the Taliban and better support and assist the Afghan forces when needed in critical operations, using the USA troops already in the country.
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Instead, the broadened authorities will be used on a case-by-case basis where US military commanders determine that accompanying Afghan ground troops and providing close air support will proactively help the Afghan military gain a strategic advantage against the resurgent Taliban, the official said.
However, the official cautioned: “This is not a blanket order to target the Taliban”.
President Barack Obama has approved expanded authorities that will allow USA troops to accompany and conduct offensive operations with Afghan forces under certain conditions, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter announced Friday. Obama’s decision also allows greater use of USA air power.
The new rules could also open the door for more USA airstrikes and ground action against the Taliban to ensure US and Afghan forces are protected, the official indicated.
Earnest said. He said the new authority to expand airstrikes would allow US forces “to be more proactive in supporting conventional Afghan forces as they take the fight to the Taliban”.
“This is one of the steps that the USA is encouraging Pakistan to do for the improvement of its relations with India”, a state department spokesman said on Thursday.
A group of retired generals and senior diplomats urged Obama last week to forgo those plans, warning they could undermine the fight against the Afghan Taliban, whose leader was killed in a US drone strike in Pakistan last month.
The guidelines reflect what has been apparent for months: USA troops, primarily special operations forces, have continued to actively fight the Taliban since the declared end of the us combat mission in 2014.
“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. The Taliban captured the major city of Kunduz in October of 2015 marking the first such victory since the beginning of US combat operations in 2001.
The 9,800 troops in Afghanistan are operating in two missions.
The Defense Department had been expected to announce on Friday changes in the US military operation in Afghanistan to increase the ability to attack Taliban targets, but it was canceled on Thursday according to several officials familiar with the effort. 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 U.S. and China have been brokering peace talks between the official Afghan government under Ashraf Ghani and the Taliban. Officials stressed that this will not allow routine US airstrikes against the Taliban, but just provide authority to strike when necessary.
“Our army is capable of fighting, the only thing we need is air support”, Afghan defense ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri told The Associated Press.
The Washington Post says the limited re-engagement of USA forces does not represent a full-fledged return to war.
Obama’s latest troop decision would appear to push any brokered solution well beyond his presidency.
By this time, the Afghan forces should be able to act as spotters for air support – that is, if Obama’s withdrawal plan will work as advertised.
Local support for United States efforts has been undermined by the unintended killing of Afghan civilians.
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So the question that remains is what did we gain in Afghanistan, or more importantly, what did we lose?
