WASHINGTON – US warplanes in Afghanistan have launched airstrikes against Taliban targets in recent days under new authority granted to the top commander there to help Afghan forces achieve “catastrophic success,” according to a media report.
The expanded authorities allow Army Gen John Nicholson to bolster Afghan offensives with US combat advisers, airstrikes, surveillance aircraft and pilots to fly alongside the fledgling Afghan air force, USA TODAY reported on Friday, citing a Defence official.
Nicholson alone has the authority to order the new missions, the Defence official said.
The four-star Army officer took command in March and has been assessing the security situation there. Expanding the US combat role grew out of that assessment, the newspaper said.
Defence Secretary Ash Carter announced the expanded US role in Afghanistan last week at a meeting with NATO Defence Ministers in Brussels.
Within days, the first missions were flown, said Col. Michael Lawhorn, a military spokesman in Kabul. Since there have been only a few airstrikes, it’s too early to assess their effects, he said.
The expanding US combat role comes as the Taliban insurgency has bounced back three years after the Afghan troops took the lead for providing security in their country.
“Increased insurgent fighting in urban areas has also contributed to record-high civilian casualties, primarily caused by insurgent and extremist groups,” according to a Pentagon report released this week.
There are about 10,000 US troops in Afghanistan, 6,800 of them trainers and the remainder involved in counter-terrorism operations.
President Barack Obama has called for that force to be cut nearly in half by year’s end.
The decision to unleash more US firepower during the traditional peak fighting season stems from the need to help Afghan forces “generate strategic effects on the battlefield,” Carter said last week in Brussels.
An example of the type of mission that can be approved would be surveillance from drones, airstrikes and combat advisers to help Afghan troops retake a provincial capital seized by the Taliban, the newspaper said.
Prior to last week’s change, US forces could attack enemies in Afghanistan for three reasons: self-defence; counter-terrorism strikes against al Qaeda terrorists, its affiliates and Islamic State fighters; and racing to the aid of Afghan forces facing catastrophic loss of key terrain or suffering significant casualties, the official said.
NATO officials announced last week that they intended to conduct operations throughout Afghanistan at least through next year, rather than pulling back to the capital, Kabul. NATO also committed to funding Afghan security forces through 2020. http://nation.com.pk/international/25-Jun-2016/us-launches-first-attacks-on-taliban-under-new-rules
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