Posted on 06/14/2016 7:30:34 PM PDT by jazusamo
More than a year since the Obama administration officially ended American combat operations in Afghanistan, the White House’s newly minted battle plan for the country effectively restarts the combat mission for the 9,800 U.S. service members still in the country.
White House officials have given the administration’s tacit approval to allow U.S. commanders in Afghanistan to conduct offensive airstrikes against the Taliban and other insurgent groups and to let American troops restart joint ground operations with Afghan forces.
The changes were based on the findings of a three-month review of the situation in Afghanistan, which was overseen by Gen. John Nicholson, the top U.S. commander there, and submitted to Pentagon and White House officials this month.
Before the changes made at Gen. Nicholson’s behest, American air power was authorized only when U.S. forces were under direct threat and American combat missions in the country were limited to special operations teams.
The shift in the White House strategy was a clear recognition that “what is on the ground right now just isn’t working,” said Rick Nelson, a senior counterterrorism analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
President Obama pledged to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan when he announced in 2007 that he was seeking the White House. That campaign promise led to accusations that he was making war decisions based on domestic politics without regard to the situations on the ground.
Mr. Nelson said the White House “has been really bad about changing military tactics” in Afghanistan, pressing ahead with plans to withdraw all U.S. forces from the country by 2017.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Barky managed to pull defeat out of the jaws of victory, in not just one war, but TWO!
Mark
I guess there were no aspirin factories to blow up.
Seven bases which were closed are now being re-activated.
Some “end-of-war”!
Pushtuns and communists http://countrystudies.us/afghanistan/27.htm
Yes, I went to the web to check out the country.
It DOES produce MUCH heroin. Perhaps that's why this country thinks that it's so valuable.
0bama ended two wars! Uh...before he started them both up again.
This is only being done because the Mexican Cartels are cutting in to the Opium Profits. We need to shore up the production and distribution routes to keep the Cartels from stealing all of our profits. We need dat money
Should have stayed out of that area and got some of our own damned oil elsewhere.
What a difference a year makes...
The 0bomb waits long enough for us to lose our troops’ hard-fought gains, then has to redeploy them to regain them!
“A Battle Plan drawn up by Obama and His Admin will be a disaster”
Cover our flanks before the election! No matter the cost in blood or treasure!
Great....another Obastard-dimocrat war.
Guess he wants another Nobel Peace Prize...
The point is that it's another diversion that ignores the strongholds in Syria and other places that must not be turned into smoldering ruins....
I guess Obama still thinks Afghanistan is the “Good War” ...
Couldn’t agree more. With the added benefit of killing off a few more service personnel types without any media backlash.
“Combat Operations”........
Odumbo never officially declares that it is “WAR”
My husband and I were there for five years and we thought that, in reality, the USA was waiting for the KSA to eventually run out of petroleum and natural gas. LONG term planning on the part of the USA.
THEN, and only then would we start using up our own natural resources.
The Saudis KNOW that their petroleum will run out and they are preparing for it by trying to educate their youth--universities abroad. I really don't remember all the other things they planned but they can afford to hire the best minds to advise them where to put their waning wealth.
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