WASHINGTON — President Obama decided in recent weeks to authorize a more expansive mission for the military in Afghanistan
in 2015 than originally planned, a move that ensures American troops
will have a direct role in fighting in the war-ravaged country for at
least another year.
Mr. Obama’s order allows American forces to carry out missions against the Taliban
and other militant groups threatening American troops or the Afghan
government, a broader mission than the president described to the public
earlier this year, according to several administration, military and
congressional officials with knowledge of the decision. The new
authorization also allows American jets, bombers and drones to support Afghan troops on combat missions.
In
an announcement in the White House Rose Garden in May, Mr. Obama said
that the American military would have no combat role in Afghanistan next
year, and that the missions for the 9,800 troops remaining in the
country would be limited to training Afghan forces and to hunting the
“remnants of Al Qaeda.”
The
decision to change that mission was the result of a lengthy and heated
debate that laid bare the tension inside the Obama administration
between two often-competing imperatives: the promise Mr. Obama made to
end the war in Afghanistan, versus the demands of the Pentagon that
American troops be able to successfully fulfill their remaining missions
in the country.
The
internal discussion took place against the backdrop of this year’s
collapse of Iraqi security forces in the face of the advance of the
Islamic State as well as the mistrust between the Pentagon and the White
House that still lingers since Mr. Obama’s 2009 decision to “surge”
30,000 American troops to Afghanistan. Some of the president’s civilian
advisers say that decision was made only because of excessive Pentagon
pressure, and some military officials say it was half-baked and made
with an eye to domestic politics.
Mr.
Obama’s decision, made during a White House meeting in recent weeks
with his senior national security advisers, came over the objection of
some of his top civilian aides, who argued that American lives should
not be put at risk next year in any operations against the Taliban — and
that they should have only a narrow counterterrorism mission against Al
Qaeda.
But
the military pushed back, and generals both at the Pentagon and in
Afghanistan urged Mr. Obama to define the mission more broadly to allow
American troops to attack the Taliban, the Haqqani network and other
militants if intelligence revealed that the extremists were threatening
American forces in the country.
The
president’s order under certain circumstances would also authorize
American airstrikes to support Afghan military operations in the country
and ground troops to occasionally accompany Afghan troops on operations
against the Taliban.
“There
was a school of thought that wanted the mission to be very limited,
focused solely on Al Qaeda,” one American official said.
But, the official said, “the military pretty much got what it wanted.”
On
Friday evening, a senior administration official insisted that American
forces would not carry out regular patrols or conduct offensive
missions against the Taliban next year.
“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, however, we will take appropriate
measures to keep Americans safe.”
In
effect, Mr. Obama’s decision largely extends much of the current
American military role for another year. Mr. Obama and his aides were
forced to make a decision because the 13-year old mission, Operation
Enduring Freedom, is set to end on Dec. 31.
The
matter of the military’s role in Afghanistan in 2015 has “been a
really, really contentious issue for a long time, even more contentious
than troop numbers,” said Vikram Singh, who worked on Afghanistan policy
both at the State Department and the Pentagon during the Obama
administration and is now at the Center for American Progress in Washington.
American
officials said that while the debate over the nature of the American
military’s role beginning in 2015 has lasted for years, two issues in
particular have shifted the debate in recent months.
The
first is the advance of Islamic State forces across northern Iraq and
the collapse of the Iraqi Army, which has led to criticism of Mr. Obama
for a military pullout of Iraq that left Iraqi troops ill-prepared to
protect their soil.
This
has intensified criticism of Mr. Obama’s Afghanistan strategy, which
Republican and even some Democratic lawmakers have said adheres to an
overly compressed timeline that would hamper efforts to train and advise
Afghan security forces — potentially leaving them vulnerable to attack
from Taliban fighters and other extremists in the meantime.
This
new arrangement could blunt some of that criticism, although it is also
likely to be criticized by some Democratic lawmakers who will say that
Mr. Obama allowed the military to dictate the terms of the endgame in
Afghanistan.
The
second factor is the transfer of power in Afghanistan to President
Ashraf Ghani, who has been far more accepting of an expansive American
military mission in his country than his predecessor, Hamid Karzai.
According
to a senior Afghan official and a former Afghan official who maintains
close ties to his former colleagues, in recent weeks both Mr. Ghani and
his new national security adviser, Hanif Atmar, have requested that the
United States continue to fight Taliban forces in 2015 — as opposed to
being strictly limited to operations against Al Qaeda. Mr. Ghani also
recently lifted the limits on American airstrikes and joint raids that
Mr. Karzai had put in place, the Afghan officials said.
The
new Afghan president has already developed a close working relationship
with Gen. John F. Campbell, the allied commander in Afghanistan.
“The
difference is night and day,” General Campbell said in an email about
the distinction between dealing with Mr. Ghani and Mr. Karzai.
“President Ghani has reached out and embraced the international
community. We have a strategic opportunity we haven’t had previously
with President Karzai.”
American
military officials saw the easing of the limits on airstrikes imposed
by Mr. Karzai as especially significant, even if the restrictions were
not always honored. During the summer, Afghan generals occasionally
ignored Mr. Karzai’s directive and requested American air support when
their forces encountered trouble.
Now it appears such requests will no longer have to be kept secret.
One
senior American military officer said that in light of Mr. Obama’s
decision, the Air Force expects to use F-16 fighters, B-1B bombers and
Predator and Reaper drones to go after the Taliban in 2015.
“Our plans are to maintain an offensive capability in Afghanistan,” he said.
The
officer said he expected the Pentagon to issue an order in the next
several weeks detailing the military’s role in Afghanistan in 2015 under
Operation Resolute Support, which will become the new name for the
Afghanistan war.
The
Pentagon plans to take the lead role in advising and training Afghan
forces in southern and eastern Afghanistan, with Italy also operating in
the east, Germany in the north and Turkey in Kabul.
But
by the end of next year, half of the 9,800 American troops would leave
Afghanistan. The rest would be consolidated in Kabul and Bagram, and
then leave by the end of 2016, allowing Mr. Obama to say he ended the
Afghan war before leaving office.
America’s
NATO allies are expected to keep about 4,000 troops of their own in
Afghanistan in 2015. The allies are expected to follow the American lead
in consolidating and withdrawing their troops.
The
United States could still have military advisers in Kabul after 2016
who would work out of an office of security cooperation at the United
States Embassy. But the administration has not said how large that
contingent might be and what its exact mission would be.
And
it remains unclear how the continuing chaos in Iraq — and Mr. Obama’s
decision to send troops back there — will affect the administration’s
plans for an Afghanistan exit.
As
the president said in the Rose Garden in May, “I think Americans have
learned that it’s harder to end wars than it is to begin them.”
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