As Afghan combat work winds down, U.S. to expand counterterror mission

The Obama administration has authorized an expanded U.S. military response to insurgents in Afghanistan following the conclusion of U.S. and NATO combat operations in December, a U.S. official said Saturday.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly discuss the planning, said the White House had made a decision in recent weeks to provide the U.S. military with expanded powers for Afghanistan in 2015.

“It essentially allows for an expanded set of counterterrorism authorities than what had previously been envisioned — essentially giving the military status quo,” the official said.

The official said the order gave the military “what they believe they needed” to conduct the counterterrorism mission. “The threat of terrorism is not going to go away when the ISAF mission ends,” he said, referring to the International Security Assistance Force, the military command that has led the long U.S. and NATO fight against the Taliban and other militants in Afghanistan.

The decision, first reported by the New York Times, is a shift for the White House, which has long sought to curtail U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan on a set withdrawal timeline as part of efforts to bring the United States’ foreign wars to a close.   More at Washington Post