Daily Times

The US has decided to extend its military mission in Afghanistan for another year. After coming to power, President Obama had announced in 2009 that the US would withdraw from Afghanistan by 2014. It agreed through the Bilateral Security Agreement with the Afghan government to keep a residual force of 9,800 US soldiers in the country. largely for training the Afghan security forces. However, considering the way things have transformed after the US withdrawal from Iraq, it seems the US has decided to revisit its withdrawal strategy from Afghanistan before the implications become unmanageable. The disintegration of the US-trained Iraqi army before the Islamic State (IS) offensives has raised hackles in the US military command, which had been visibly against Obama’s decision to withdraw from Iraq without fulfilling its remaining mission. The threat posed by IS, with its tentacles now spreading beyond Iraq and Syria, and with Afghanistan having the potential to become the next target of IS, the decision of the US to extend somewhat its presence in the country seems sound. According to the new agreement, Obama has authorized US troops through 2015 to carry out missions against militant groups, including the Taliban, that threaten them or the Afghan government. The new order also allows for air support — from US jets, bombers and drones — for Afghan combat missions.

There was a growing concern in Afghanistan and elsewhere about the ability of the Afghan National Army to combat terrorism after the withdrawal of the US-led NATO forces. The force having so far failed to bring down the ever rising incidents of terrorism and with the Taliban entrenched still, the possibility of Afghanistan becoming another Iraq loomed. Couple it with the decision of some Taliban to align with the IS for a grander Islamic state and the situation becomes horrific enough to stir a shift in the US combat strategy in Afghanistan. The Afghan government has been more than willing to accept this new arrangement considering its inability to fix the country singlehandedly. In recent weeks, both President Ashraf Ghani and his new national security adviser, Hanif Atmar, have requested that the US 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 Air Force expects to use F-16 fighters, B-1B bombers and Predator and Reaper drones to go after the Taliban. This shift in the US and Afghan relationship will surly help bring stability to Afghanistan and the region. *