The United States will ask NATO allies to send a thousand more soldiers to Afghanistan for the battle against the Taliban. This was announced by the new permanent representative of the United States to NATO, Kay Bailey Hutchison. The additional forces of the allies would add to the approximately XNUMX additional US troops envisaged by President Donald Trump's new strategy in Afghanistan.
Two days ago, the Defense Secretary, James Mattis, announced some changes in the rules of engagement intended to strengthen and make more efficient the battle against the Taliban in Afghanistan; the most important are the removal of proximity requirements for attacks on enemy forces and closer relations with Afghan forces on the ground. Mattis had been given full freedom from the White House to loosen the rules, as requested by many senior officers for combat operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria in recent years. The US president himself, Donald Trump, in his August 21 speech on the new strategy in Afghanistan, announced that he would "remove the restrictions and expand the power" of US forces on the battlefield.
Mattis spoke about the news in front of two congressional commissions, to which he confirmed the removal of restrictions "that did not allow us to fully use our air power". "We are no longer limited by the need for proximity to the enemy" to act, the minister said. In any case, Secretary Mattis wanted to emphasize that the United States will continue to do everything "humanly possible" to avoid the death of civilians.
Insights
Italy has guaranteed its support to NATO and the Republic of Afghanistan and in this context the Train Advise Assist Command West (TAAC W) continues its training, assistance and advisory activities to the local institutions and local security forces in the West Region.
The current national contribution is set by Law 131/2016, which authorizes for the whole of 2017, a maximum volume of 900 military, 148 land vehicles and 8 air vehicles, divided between personnel based in Kabul, and Italian military contingent deployed in Herat at the TAAC-W.
The personnel present in the Kabul area belong to the four Armed Forces and mainly cover staff positions at the Resolute Support Command (Cdo RS), the Special Operation Force Command (RS SOF HQ) and, with support functions to the aforementioned personnel, at ITALFOR Kabul. The military personnel operating in the high-level Commands of the RS mission guarantee the functionality of Command and Control in the multinational environment and support for the Afghan Ministries, Commands and Training Schools located in the capital.