U.S. Military Quietly Expands Role in Afghanistan

“Months after President Obama formally declared that the United States’ long war against the Taliban was over in Afghanistan, the American military is regularly conducting airstrikes against low-level insurgent forces and sending Special Operations troops directly into harm’s way under the guise of ‘training and advising,'” the New York Times reports.

“In public, officials have emphasized that the Taliban are not being targeted unless it is for ‘force protection’ — where the insurgents were immediately threatening American forces. But interviews with American and Western officials in Kabul and Washington offer a picture of a more aggressive range of military operations against the Taliban in recent months, as the insurgents have continued to make gains against struggling government forces.”