Press TV
November 22, 2014
US troops to have combat role indefinitely: Analyst
The Obama administration will continue combat operations in Afghanistan indefinitely, Rick Rozoff said.
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The United States will “continue combat operations” in Afghanistan for an indefinite period, says a political analyst.
“The Obama administration, with or without the knowledge of Congress, but certainly without revealing this to the American populace, has decided to continue combat operations by US military forces in Afghanistan beyond this year, into the next and presumably indefinitely,” Rick Rozoff, manager at Stop NATO International, told Press TV on Saturday.
According to a new report, President Barack Obama has secretly signed an order allowing US troops to be involved in combat operations in Afghanistan throughout 2015.
The order will authorize American forces to continue their missions against the Taliban and other militant groups, the New York Times reported on Friday.
Rozoff said the secret order is another startling indication of how “condescending and disrespectful” the US is towards the agreement reached with the new government of Afghanistan as well as “the international community.”
Obama claims the 10,000 troops remaining in Afghanistan will only be involved in training Afghan forces, but Rozoff said they will engage in combat operations.
“We’re told that the remaining 10 to 15 thousand troops would be limited to ‘train and equip’ operations but anyone with any historical memory in the United States or worldwide realizes that was the official explanation for the introduction of American armed forces in Indochina in 1960s, into Laos and Vietnam, and the role rapidly grew from alleged training to commanding and ultimately half a million troops fighting the war,” he noted.
“There is always a possibility of the US having a foundation of 10 to 15 thousand troops, many of those participating in active combat roles,” he explained.
Rozoff concluded that the US “wants to maintain military presence in that very strategically vital part of the world and even if the troop levels have been reduced… the US and its NATO allies maintain several major air bases in Afghanistan.”
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