The New York Times reported Sunday that, in the face of significant Taliban gains in southern Afghanistan’s Helmand province, the United States is once again committing troops and air power to the fight.
According to the Times, “the extent of the American role has been kept largely secret, with senior Afghan officials in the area saying they are under orders not to divulge the level of cooperation.” Pentagon officials are allegedly concerned that the ramped-up U.S. involvement “may suggest” that the U.S. combat role in Afghanistan, which was supposed to have ended, is going far beyond the “train, advise and assist” mission that officially replaced it.
U.S. forces are authorized to intervene directly in cases where Afghan security forces are in “extreme peril” as well as to pursue counterterror operations. Nevertheless, misleading the American people about the extent of U.S. involvement in Afghanistan is problematic, to say the least.