According to reports, U.S. President Barack Obama has signed a secret order authorizing an expanded combat role for U.S. forces in Afghanistan in 2015.
Signed within the last few weeks, the order would allow U.S. forces to carry out combat missions against Taliban fighters who pose a threat to either American military personnel or Afghanistan’s government. It also allows U.S. fighter jets, bomber aircraft and drones to be deployed in support of Afghan troops on combat missions.
Outgoing U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Saturday during a visit to Kabul that the U.S. will delay the withdrawal of up to 1,000 troops from Afghanistan in 2015. In a change to the drawdown schedule, he said the number of American forces staying behind would fall only to 10,800 troops at the start of next year, rather than 9,800 as previously planned. However, the U.S. still intends to scale back to 5,500 troops in 2016 and reduce to an embassy presence in 2017, he said.
“Essentially, President Obama has just bought some time for the process to catch up. But the mission does not change. Our combat role is over,” added Hagel.
White House and Pentagon officials have argued that the recent order signed by Obama, which allows commanders to attack not just al-Qaida-affiliated terrorists, but insurgents gunning for the Afghan government, is not a change in policy or a broadening of the war.
According to New York Time’s report, Obama’s civilian advisers had pushed the president to confine the role of U.S. forces to fighting al Qaeda, while the military establishment demanded the authority to also target the Taliban and other militant groups, as they pose threats to U.S. or Afghan forces.
The foreign combat role ends while 2014 was marked one of the bloodiest years for Afghan civilians. As a result, from 1 January to 30 June 2014, UNAMA documented 4,853 civilian casualties, up 24 per cent over the same period in 2013. Included in the toll were 1,564 civilian deaths (up 17 per cent) and 3,289 injuries (up 28 per cent). Ground engagements caused two of every five civilian casualties in 2014 accounting for 39 per cent of all civilian casualties: 1,901 in total, up 89 per cent from 2013, with 474 civilians killed and 1,427 injured.
Total child civilian casualties increased 34 per cent in the first six months of 2014 to 1,071, including 295 killed and 776 injured, while total women civilian casualties increased 24 per cent to 440, including 148 killed and 292 injured. Ground engagements took the lives of 112 children and injured 408, with the total 520 child casualties, an increase of 111 per cent over 2013. Ground engagements killed 64 Afghan women and injured 192, with the total 256 women casualties, up 61 per cent over 2013, according to UNAMA documents.
UNAMA director Georgette Gagnon warned that “many battles were taking place near the homes of ordinary Afghans”, adding that the numbers of injured women and children were in a “disturbing upward spiral”.
Reportedly, improvised explosive devices used by anti-Government elements, the second leading cause of civilian casualties in 2014, were behind 1,463 civilian casualties – up seven per cent from 2013 and the highest number of civilian casualties from this tactic recorded in a six month period since 2009.
“In the first half of 2014, the Taliban publicly claimed responsibility for 147 attacks that resulted in 553 civilian casualties with 234 civilians killed and 319 injured. While Taliban fighters appeared to direct 76 of these attacks at military targets that indiscriminately harmed civilians, 69 attacks deliberately targeted civilians, including tribal elders, civilian Government and justice sector employees, and civilians in restaurants.”
UNAMA attributed 74 per cent of all civilian casualties to anti-Government elements and nine per cent to Pro-Government Forces, while 12 per cent occurred in ground engagements between insurgents and Afghan forces which could not be attributed to a specific party. The remaining casualties were caused mainly by explosive remnants of war.
Compared with the first six months of 2009, when UNAMA began to monitor civilian casualties, the number of civilians killed by anti-Government elements doubled in 2014 while the number of civilians killed by Pro-Government forces has been cut by half almost entirely due to reduced civilian casualties from aerial operations of international military forces.
The withdrawal of well-equipped and heavily armed foreign troops will make it easier for insurgent forces to infiltrate towns and villages, so battles more often take place among houses, shops or government buildings – as it occurred recently with the withdrawal of foreign forces from the districts.
The operation, carried out under a UNs mandate, aimed to provide stability, assist in the rebuilding of Afghanistan and democratize the country. In addition, troops were to make sure that the country would no longer be a safe haven for international terrorists.
What will remain after the bulk of international forces have left the country? Afghanistan ranks seventh in the annual Failed State Index published by the US think tank “Fund for Peace” (FFP). According to Transparency International, Afghanistan is one of the most corrupt states in the world. In addition, the country is the world’s biggest manufacturer of opium. The German foreign intelligence agency BND recently warned of dramatic consequences of drug manufacturing for security and economy in Afghanistan.
“The ISAF mission hasn’t solved the main problem in Afghanistan,” said Thomas Ruttig, co-director of the Afghan Analyst Network based in Kabul and Berlin. “The war is not over yet, dismantling the Taliban came to nothing, insurgences have spread across the entire country, and since 2010 the level of violence in Afghanistan is higher than in all previous years.”