Trump gives generals more freedom on Daesh fight

U.S. military commanders are stepping up their fight against Islamist extremism as President Donald Trump’s administration urges them to make more battlefield decisions on their own, the Wall Street Journal reported.

As the White House works on a broad strategy, America’s top military commanders are implementing the vision articulated by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis: Decimate Daesh’s Middle East strongholds and ensure that the militants don’t establish new beachheads in places such as Afghanistan and Somalia.

“There’s nothing formal, but it is beginning to take shape,” a senior U.S. defense official said Friday. “There is a sense among these commanders that they are able to do a bit more — and so they are.”

While military commanders complained about White House micromanagement under former President Barack Obama, they are now being told they have more freedom to make decisions without consulting Mr. Trump.

Military commanders around the world are being encouraged to stretch the limits of their existing authorities when needed, but to think seriously about the consequences of their decisions.

The more muscular military approach is expanding as the Trump administration debates a comprehensive new strategy to defeat Daesh. Mr. Mattis has sketched out such a global plan, but the administration has yet to agree on it.

While the political debate continues, the military is being encouraged to take more aggressive steps against Islamic extremists around the world. 

The firmer military stance has fueled growing concerns among State Department officials working on Middle East policy that the Trump administration is giving short shrift to the diplomatic tools the Obama administration favored.

The new approach was on display this week in Afghanistan, where General John Nicholson, head of the U.S.-led coalition there, decided to use one of the military’s biggest non-nuclear bombs — a Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb, or MOAB — to hit a remote Daesh underground network of tunnels and caves.

A senior administration official said Mr. Trump didn’t know about the weapon’s use until it had been dropped. 

Mr. Mattis “is telling them, ‘It’s not the same as it was, you don’t have to ask us before you drop a MOAB,’” the senior defence official said.

Source: MENA