Obama effectively restarts Afghanistan combat operations a year after officially ending them

White House officials have given the administration’s tacit approval to allow U.S. commanders in Afghanistan to conduct offensive airstrikes against the Taliban and other insurgent groups and to let American troops restart joint ground operations with Afghan forces.

washington times reports:

The changes were based on the findings of a three-month review of the situation in Afghanistan, which was overseen by Gen. John Nicholson, the top U.S. commander there, and submitted to Pentagon and White House officials this month.

Before the changes made at Gen. Nicholson’s behest, American air power was authorized only when U.S. forces were under direct threat and American combat missions in the country were limited to special operations teams.

The shift in the White House strategy was a clear recognition that "what is on the ground right now just isn’t working,” said Rick Nelson, a senior counterterrorism analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

President Obama pledged to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan when he announced in 2007 that he was seeking the White House. That campaign promise led to accusations that he was making war decisions based on domestic politics without regard to the situations on the ground.

Mr. Nelson said the White House "has been really bad about changing military tactics” in Afghanistan, pressing ahead with plans to withdraw all U.S. forces from the country by 2017.

The latest move, however, "reflects [that Mr. Obama] is being thoughtful” about what is needed in Afghanistan to ensure the country does not devolve into a failed state, he said.

U.S. military commanders are "still in the process of operationalizing” the strategy, Pentagon spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis told reporters Tuesday.

The changes, he said, would affect only the U.S. military mission in Afghanistan, known as Operation Freedom’s Sentinel, and not the NATO-led training mission under Operation Resolute Support.

The changes approved by the White House did not constitute a return to full-fledged combat by U.S. forces in Afghanistan, Capt. Davis said. Rather, the shift would allow U.S. forces to provide "strategic effects enabling the [Afghan National Security Forces]” to take on the Taliban and other Islamist groups during the fighting season, he said.

U.S. airstrikes, as well as American and Afghan combat missions, would be limited to areas of Afghanistan where local forces need the most help, Capt. Davis said.