Small Wars Journal

Afghan Special Operators Partnering With U.S. Forces More Often, Still Reliant On American Support

Wed, 02/05/2020 - 4:31pm

Afghan Special Operators Partnering With U.S. Forces More Often, Still Reliant On American Support by Shawn Snow, Leo Shane III and Joe Gould - Military Times

Afghan special operations forces and commandos are conducting more partnered missions with their America allies, raising questions about the elite unit’s ability to hold the line should U.S. troops withdraw from the nearly 18-year long.

A recent government watchdog report detailed that 43 percent of Afghan Special Security Forces’ operations were conducted independently in 2019. In 2018, the Afghan special operators conducted 55 percent of their missions independently.

The government watchdog report compared enabled operations, missions that include coalition enablers such as air support, and partnered missions where coalition troops partner with Afghan forces. Independent operations are conducted without coalition or U.S. assistance…

Read on.