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Going on offense: Champ's new Afghan war policy begins to take shape
[WAPO] Now that President Obama has abandoned his plan to greatly scale back U.S.-involvement in the Afghan war, military commanders are drawing up plans to help Afghan forces hammer Taliban insurgents.At a media briefing here in Kabul on Saturday, Gen. John W. Nicholson said the president has given U.S. military commanders "all the capabilities" they requested to transition American forces back into more offensive posture in America's longest war. "While the American forces would not be in an offensive role per say, if the Afghan forces are conducting offensive operations, we can support them," said Nicholson, who commands the U.S.-led coalition. "Previously, we would support them primarily when they were on a defensive role, so as a commander, working closely with my Afghan comrades, this is a big difference. "It enables them to retain the initiative against the enemy ... whereas before, we were preventing defeat, now we are able to help them gain and retain the initiative." On Wednesday, Obama announced he was shelving plans to reduce U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan from the existing 9,900 down to 5,500 by January. Instead, Obama said 8,400 troops will remain here into 2017, leaving it up his successor to tweak troop levels further. Posted by: Besoeker 2016-07-10 |
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