Obama Approves Fresh Guidelines for U.S. Military in Afghanistan
A senior administration official said President Barack Obama has approved plans giving U.S. military commanders broader authority in helping Afghanistan forces repel Taliban fighters after...
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Obama Approves Fresh Guidelines for U.S. Military in Afghanistan - Video
Taliban Claim To Have Shot Down U.S. Drone In Eastern Afghanistan
Source: https://www.youtube.com/user/videosptv November 22, 2014 - Press TV reports on the latest news headlines from around the world. Live @ http://www.presstv.ir/live.html Twitter @ http://twi...
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Taliban Claim To Have Shot Down U.S. Drone In Eastern Afghanistan - Video
Fort Campbell - Fort Campbell, KY Fort Campbell - Fort Campbell, KY
To get to a place where the Afghanistan war is something not yet forgotten, drive from civilian America onto this 164-square-mile military base. Pass the armed guards who check for military identification and the four-story Warrior Transition building that houses wounded soldiers, and keep going into one of the bases residential neighborhoods of identical two-story houses.
Inside one of those homes, Lt. Col. Chris Hossfeld is in the family room reviewing a video from his first combat tour 10 years ago.
Watch right there, he says, pointing at a sandbagged window on the second floor of his old combat outpost in Iraq. Theres a spurt of gunfire from the spot where one of Hossfelds soldiers, Pfc. Oscar Sanchez, 19, was standing guard duty. A split second later a dump truck, containing more than 1,500 pounds of explosives and speeding toward the outpost, disappears in a fireball. The blast sheared off the buildings front, wounded 11 Americans, and killed Sanchez, the first of Hossfelds troops to die in combat.
That was the war in 2004. Now, in a few days, Hossfeld, 41, will be going to war again, this time in command of a 700-soldier battalion headed to Afghanistan. In much of America, the war in Afghanistan may be regarded as over, if its thought of at all. But to Hossfeld and his soldiers, who are likely to be among the last to deploy to the country on a combat mission, the war is very much ongoing and present tense.
They will be entering a fight thats very different from the one captured on the video. That was President Bushs war, launched three weeks after the 9/11 attacks, when what would turn into 13 years of war with nearly 7,000 American deaths, 60,000 injuries and a cost in excess of $2 trillion was just beginning.
To all the men and women in our military, Bush said from the White House as the first American bombs fell on Afghanistan, your mission is defined. The objectives are clear. Your goal is just. You have my full confidence, and you will have every tool you need to carry out your duty.
Now as Hossfeld prepares to leave for Afghanistan, hes fighting for a different commander-in-chief with a different focus: ending a war rather than beginning one. President Obama has set hard limits on U.S. troop levels and a firm timeline for the withdrawal of the remaining American forces. Obamas effort to constrain his militarys ambitions reflects his own doubts about whether the mission is worth any more American lives. Hes thinking very hard about what it would feel like to have casualties in Afghanistan next year, said a senior White House official involved in Afghanistan policy. Hes thinking about this more than anyone else in the debate. Hes considering what he would feel like.
With his deployment just days away, Hossfeld has his own questions: What exactly will his men be doing? How long will they stay? Will one of his soldiers be the wars last casualty? How different will this last deployment be from his first one?
It was a gut fight, said Hossfeld of that first combat tour. That was a visceral thing that soldiers could grasp. It was easier for soldiers to truly identify the problem. They could see their demons. It was either him or me.
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Troops bound for Afghanistan find new uncertainty
President Obama has authorized the military in Afghanistan to continue to target Taliban fighters next year, a move that broadens the scope of the training mission that is to begin in 2015.
The NATO and U.S. combat mission is slated to end at year's end and convert to a training mission for Afghan security forces that is expected to last two more years.
Original plans called for the 9,800 U.S. military trainers who would remain in Afghanistan next year to also have the authority to conduct limited counterterrorism operations against al Qaeda in Afghanistan. Those operations would be conducted by part of the 2,000 Special Operations forces that will remain in Afghanistan next year.
U.S. officials confirm that Obama has signed an executive order that would also allow military forces to conduct limited targeting of Taliban forces if they pose a threat to U.S. troops or if they were providing support to al Qaeda.
The order would also allow U.S. military aircraft to provide close air support for Afghan troops on the ground if needed. The new authorizations were first reported by the New York Times.
A U.S. military official said that the new authorization will not allow the targeting of Taliban fighters "solely because they are members of the Taliban." Another U.S. official said the limited targeting would be allowed if specific Taliban fighters posed a specific threat to U.S. military forces in Afghanistan.
The U.S. military official said that any air support provided to Afghan security forces will occur "in limited circumstances."
"And of course we will protect our own forces and coalition partners," the official said.
The official said the new authorizations have been "an ongoing process that has gotten us a place that we feel is about right to protect our own forces and help the Afghan National Security Forces" in extreme circumstances.
In a video conference with Pentagon reporters in early November, Lt. Gen. Joseph Anderson, the number two military commander in Afghanistan, hinted at that process. Asked about the scope of the future counterterrorism mission and when close air support could be provided to Afghan forces with the pending end of the combat mission, he said "those authorities have yet to be defined."
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U.S. Broadens Military Mission for Afghanistan Next Year
By Jim Acosta and Ralph Ellis, CNN
updated 7:05 PM EST, Sat November 22, 2014
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
(CNN) -- In a policy shift, President Barack Obama has decided to extend the combat role of U.S. forces in Afghanistan into 2015, allowing troops to keep fighting the Taliban and other militant groups that threaten American soldiers or the Afghan government, The New York Times reported.
Back in May, the President described an exit strategy that called for an end to U.S. combat operations and the withdrawal of the U.S.-led international military force by the end of 2014.
While not confirming the article, a senior administration official told CNN the change is more about force protection designed to protect U.S. personnel in Afghanistan.
"We will no longer target belligerents solely because they are members of the Taliban," the official said. "To the extent that Taliban members directly threaten the United States and coalition forces in Afghanistan or provide direct support to al Qaeda, we will take appropriate measures to keep Americans safe."
The policy shift apparently will not affect the number of American troops in Afghanistan. The Times said that half the 9,800 troops would leave by the end of next year.
The Times said the new presidential action will allow American planes and drones to support Afghan troops in combat.
The official told CNN that "the United States may provide combat enabler support to the [Afghan National Security Forces] in limited circumstances to prevent detrimental strategic effects to these Afghan security forces."
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U.S. extends combat role in Afghanistan