Obama orders greater role for US troops in Afghanistan
US President Barack Obama has signed a secret order authorising a military mission in Afghanistan next year that will be broader than originally planned, the New York Times reported.
US President Barack Obama has signed a secret order authorising a military mission in Afghanistan next year that will be broader than originally planned, the reported yesterday.
The decision ensured a direct role for American troops in fighting in Afghanistan for at least another year, it said, adding that Obama's decision was made in recent weeks during a White House meeting with national security advisers.
In May, Obama said the United States military would have no combat role in Afghanistan next year. Missions for the remaining 9,800 troops would be limited to training Afghan forces and to hunting the "remnants of al-Qaeda", he said.
Obama's new order lets US forces execute missions against the Taliban and other militant groups threatening US troops or the Afghan government. It also allows US air strikes to support Afghan forces on combat missions and US troops occasionally to accompany Afghan troops on operations against the Taliban.
The newspaper did not mention whether the change would affect the number of US troops deployed to Afghanistan.
The change emerged from debate over two imperatives: Obama's promise to end the war in Afghanistan, and the Pentagon's demand to let US troops fulfil their remaining missions there, the reported.
Some civilian aides had argued against risking American lives next year in operations against the Taliban, saying there should only be a narrow mission against al-Qaeda, it said.
But generals urged Obama to define the mission more broadly if intelligence showed extremists threatening US forces.
Two issues shifted the debate, the said.
Obama's Afghanistan strategy faced stiffer criticism after the advance of Islamic State forces in Iraq and Syria, it said, while Afghanistan's new president had been more accepting of a broader American military mission than his predecessor.
