It's Time To Remove Lawyers From The War Room
It's Time To Remove Lawyers From The War Room by Shawn Snow, Military Times
The Taliban on April 12 announced the start of its annual spring offensive, which they are calling Operation Omari in honor of their former reclusive leader, Mullah Omar. It may be a decisive fighting season for Afghan or Taliban forces.
But the government forces won't be getting all the help they need from U.S. and coalition air power. There are too many conditions on when and how coalition air forces can go after the militants who are trying to retake Afghanistan. That should change.
Last year, there were record numbers of casualties among Afghan security forces and headline grabbing gains by Taliban forces, including the temporary fall in September of Kunduz, a major population center in northern Afghanistan. There is much blame to go around for the poor performance of Afghan forces, to include disunity within the National Unity Government led by President Ashraf Ghani and his chief executive officer, Abdullah Abdullah.
After Afghan forces took the lead from NATO and U.S. forces in combat operations in late 2014, NATO took on a train, advise and assist mission under Operation Resolute Support. But the switch has resulted in a huge reduction of coalition air support…