Obama approves expanded anti-Taliban airstrikes in Afghanistan, officials say

The Obama administration has approved plans to give the U.S. military greater authority to battle the Taliban in Afghanistan with airstrikes or by coordinating with regular Afghan army units, not just Afghan special forces, The Associated Press reports, citing senior U.S. and defense officials. U.S. military leaders, including the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. John Nicholson, and his predecessor, had requested the changes, and after months of debate, President Obama agreed to expand the U.S. military's flexibility in the Afghan theater.

There are still 9,800 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, though combat operations have formally ended, and none of them will be involved in direct combat, the U.S. officials said. But whereas the U.S. has mostly been conducting strikes against al Qaeda and the Islamic State in Afghanistan, U.S. commanders will now have the authority to hit the resurgent Taliban if they deem the intervention strategically wise and crucial to the Afghan military's fight, AP reports. Last year, 3,545 Afghan civilians were killed and another 7,457 wounded, mostly by the Taliban, according to United Nations figures.

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