US commanders will now be allowed to use air power against the Taliban when they see fit, Pentagon and administration officials said.
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Obama’s decision again redefines America’s support role in Afghanistan’s grinding conflict, more than a year after worldwide forces wrapped up their combat mission and shifted the burden to Afghan troops. “Our job is to help Afghanistan secure its own country, not to have our men and women in uniform engage in that fight for them”.
WASHINGTON (AP) After months of debate, the White House has approved plans to expand the military’s authority to conduct airstrikes against the Taliban when necessary, as the violence in Afghanistan escalates, senior USA and defense officials said Thursday.
The new authority can only be used in selective strategic operations. A US defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the changes mean USA troops can now embed with all Afghan troop units, not just their special forces.
“What we have seen … from the Afghan security forces is a remarkable willingness to fight for their country”, Earnest said.
The decision will allow USA troops, who have been in a training and advisory role in Afghanistan since the start of 2015, collaborate more closely with local forces in striking the Taliban.
“American ground troops will remain technically proscribed from engaging in direct combat, although they will be serving along with operational Afghan units that sometimes get into contact with the Taliban”, Phil says.
The U.S. has continued to conduct counterterrorism strikes against al-Qaida and Islamic State militants in Afghanistan.
According to U.S. officials, Washington would also maintain a large counterterrorism capability of terror drones and Special Operations forces to fight militants in Afghanistan.
The new measures, approved by Obama late last month, will permit military leaders to send US troops on battlefield missions with conventional Afghan forces, broadening an activity that now occurs only with elite local troops, and will expand the use of USA air power for offensive missions against the Taliban.
Now U.S. troops accompany only Afghanistan’s elite special operations troops on a limited number of missions.
Pentagon officials say they don’t believe this will cause USA troops to be in direct combat moving forward.
In May, a Brookings Institution report cited as evidence of greater insecurity a rise in deaths among both civilians and Afghan security forces, as well as persistent deficiencies in the army and police, including retention and support functions. But “this does not mean a blanket order to target the Taliban”, the official cautioned.
“The president made a decision to enable the commander there to have some additional authority to act pro-actively – that is to anticipate the situation in which the Afghan security forces would benefit from our support”, Carter said in response to questions at the Defense One Tech Summit in Washington, D.C.
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Still, U.S. reconstruction money has helped Afghanistan make some strides in human development, according to experts and former senior U.S. officials, and the U.S. Agency for International Development said it is not concerned about the planned drawdown of U.S. forces in Afghanistan.
