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Obama approves new authority for U.S. forces in Afghanistan
President Barack Obama has granted U.S. military commanders more freedom to strike Taliban targets in support of Afghan troops, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter announced Friday.
Speaking at an event in Washington, he said,” that Obama approved the change to let the U.S. commander “anticipate situations in which the Afghan security forces would benefit from our support.”
“This is using the forces we have here in a better way,” he told the Defense One Tech Summit, calling the expanded authority “a good use of the combat power that we have there.”
The new authority for U.S. troops would pave the way for military operations to once again support conventional Afghanistan forces against the Taliban under limited circumstances, a senior U.S. military official told CNN ahead of Carter’s public comments.
“This is not a blanket order to target the Taliban,” the official said.
However, under the new authorities, U.S. troops would be allowed to accompany conventional Afghan forces into the field to advise and assist them. Under current rules, U.S. participation is largely limited to supporting Afghan special forces.
A U.S. official said the new plan allows mainly for “close air support” strikes to ensure the safety of U.S. and Afghan forces by hitting Taliban positions. But those airstrikes may also require U.S. military “air controller” personnel on the ground to pick out targets and relay details to pilots overhead.
The new rules could also open the door for more U.S. airstrikes and ground action against the Taliban to ensure U.S. and Afghan forces are protected, the official indicated. Still, the Pentagon does not believe U.S. troops will be “in direct combat,” the official said.
The Pentagon and White House have been debating for weeks not only about a change to U.S. troops levels in Afghanistan, but whether to amend the current military authorities that restrict U.S. airstrikes against Taliban targets.
As of now, the U.S. military broadly has authority to strike any targets on the ground under three scenarios: to protect U.S. forces on ground; to go after the remnants of Al Qaeda; and to protect Afghan forces when they are facing imminent danger of being overrun by the Taliban.
The discussion inside the administration has been centered around whether to change those authorities so U.S. warplanes could now strike Taliban targets even if they do not pose a direct imminent threat.
There are about 9,800 U.S. troops in Afghanistan. The plan now calls for a draw down to about 5,500 in 2017. The draw down could be slowed within that time frame to keep more troops in the country for as long as possible, but it’s not clear that decision has been made.
Broadly speaking, the U.S. believes the performance of Afghan security forces has improved, according to Brig. Gen. Charles Cleveland, the chief spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition. But there are concerns as the summer fighting season goes on that the Taliban will pose security problems in southern Afghanistan.
“The Taliban has shifted their main effort down to Helmand,” Cleveland said, noting, however, that the U.S. hasn’t seen the full Taliban offensive it expected. Still, the reemergence of the Taliban threat has led to this vigorous discussion inside the administration about what to do about it, officials told CNN.
The Defense Department had been expected to announce on Friday changes in the U.S. 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. None of the officials CNN spoke to report to Carter, and no one agreed to be identified due to the sensitivity of the discussions inside the administration.
Published by CNN
A tripartite meeting between the delegations of Afghanistan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan was held in Kabul with the aim of connecting North Asia to South Asia and reducing transit and transportation costs among these three countries, the Ministry of Trade and Commerce said in a statement.
In this meeting, an agreement was reached on the creation of a joint technical committee to continue the talks.
This tripartite meeting was held under the leadership of Nooruddin Azizi, the Acting Minister of Industry and Commerce, Vice President of Turkmenistan and Srik Zhumangarin, the Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan.
Earlier, a bilateral meeting was held between the delegation of the Islamic Emirate and Turkmenistan. The ministry of commerce said the participants of the meeting discussed the construction of a large joint logistics center in Torghondi, the trilateral transit agreement between the IEA, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan, the expansion of Afghanistan’s railway, solving issues related to Afghan transit and export goods, and a number of other commercial issues.
Acting Minister of National Defense Mohammad Yaqub Mujahid has said that no destructive groups including Daesh have physical presence in Afghanistan, adding the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) will not allow anyone to pose threat to any country in the region from the Afghan soil.
Mujahid made the remarks in a meeting with a delegation from Malaysia in Kabul on Thursday.
According to a statement released by the Ministry of Defense, Mujahid highlighted Malaysia’s “good treatment” of Afghan refugees and its long-standing relations with Afghanistan, and said that Malaysia is a powerful Islamic country and visits should increase.
He added that with the establishment of the Islamic Emirate, occupation and war ended in Afghanistan, and the country is fully secure.
Based on the statement, the Malaysian delegation called Afghanistan a friendly country and while emphasizing on comprehensive cooperation, it assured that what they have seen in Afghanistan will be shared with the authorities of their country.
The European Union signed an agreement worth 17 million euros with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to improve access to basic services, increased economic opportunities and protection for Afghans on the move and their host communities in Afghanistan.
The needs of women and girls are a particular focus of the programme, EU said in a statement released on Thursday.
The statement noted that from January 2023 until April 2024, over 1.5 million Afghans returned from Pakistan and Iran.
“I am deeply moved by the hardship returnees face when being deported to Afghanistan. In a country suffering from poverty and climate change, and in a city that just saw devastating earthquakes, this truly is a crisis within a crisis.”, said Peteris Ustubs, Director for the Middle East, Asia and Pacific of the European Commission’s Department for International Partnerships during the signing ceremony at the IOM transit centre in Herat.
Raffaella Iodice, EU Chargée d’Affaires a.i. to Afghanistan, added “The solidarity of the Afghan people towards their brothers and sisters is an inspiration. We must assure that communities hosting and helping new arrivals are supported. The partnership with IOM ensures access to essential services and provides protection for Afghan returnees and their host communities. As women and girls can be particularly affected, we make sure that all members of society can benefit”.
“IOM’s continued partnership with the EU has been critical in enabling our teams to reach hundreds of thousands of Afghan returnees and other vulnerable communities in the country”, said IOM Afghanistan Chief of Mission, Maria Moita. “Thanks to this renewed commitment, we will be able to focus on addressing the immense challenges in the areas of return and contribute to reintegration, social cohesion, and longer-term solutions for those communities.”
This additional contribution is part of a 5-year programme that is being implemented across Afghanistan and in four countries in the region. It builds on the EU’s previous support to IOM to improve the wellbeing of Afghans forced to return to the country, EU said.
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