Paramilitary operations have been a go-to choice for the U.S. government in Afghanistan. Since winding down major troop deployments in 2014, the U.S. military has relied on CIA officers to train Afghani forces.
After 16 years, Taliban fight
er are still able to use tactics like road side bombs to disrupt government operations. There have been 5,700 attacks from the Taliban in 2017 alone. Therefore, the CIA is responding accordingly by using covert paramilitary officers. In a time when the U.S. is wary of troop commitments, paramilitary groups offer a surgical alternative.
CIA Director Pompeo, speaking in Texas this summer, said the Trump had authorized the agency “to take risks” in its fight with extremists. These “risks” had were allowable so long as they “make the C.I.A. faster and more aggressive.”
The fight in Afghanistan, even after all these years, appears to be escalating. Over 1,600 Afghani civilians, a record number, have been killed this year. With every passing year, the U.S. presence seems more and more like a permanent one.
