TACTICAL BASE GAMBERI, Aug 22: Deep in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan, on the front lines against Taliban and Islamic State fighters, U.S. military commanders say they need more forces to better train Afghan soldiers to combat the escalating threat. President Donald Trump declared Monday he’d augment troop levels, but wouldn’t say by how much.

At Tactical Base Gamberi, the Americans helping Afghan army units try to quell the insurgent stronghold of Nangarhar province want to put more advisory teams into the field. They believe expanding the training can make the Afghans more capable of taking on the enemy alone.

“We need guardian angels,” said Lt. Col. John Sandor, deputy senior adviser for the Afghan Army’s 201st Corps, referring to security forces that would protect U.S. training teams so they can work alongside Afghan brigades.

Senior military officials have been discussing such deficiencies for months. In February, the top U.S. commander in the country told Congress he needs “a few thousand” more troops. The Pentagon has asked for Trump’s approval of a nearly 4,000 troop increase as part of the broader new strategy.

Trump already had given military leaders greater authority to manage America’s military efforts. But his new Afghan strategy had been held up for months amid a contentious review process that has included the president publicly voicing his dissatisfaction with the options.

He finally outlined his plan in a primetime television address Monday, signaling more U.S. and NATO forces were coming, but no indication of the scale or how long they’d be deployed.

“We will not talk about numbers of troops or our plans for further military activities,” Trump said. “Conditions on the ground, not arbitrary timetables, will guide our strategy from now on. America’s enemies must never know our plans or believe they can wait us out.”

Thousands of miles away, in a sparse, wood-paneled room at the Gamberi training base, Sandor and others outlined the training restrictions they currently face. In two nearby provinces, for example, Afghan units were conducting training without American advisers to oversee the instruction and make sure they are learning the best combat tactics.

But in other cases, the lack of American support means Afghan units are reluctant to go out on their own.

Sometimes, said Maj. Richard Anderson, operations adviser for 201st Corps, the Afghan answer is: “Let the Americans do it.”

In early spring, when U.S. forces asked the Afghan army to step up its pursuit of IS militants in Nangarhar province, they encountered resistance.

Demoralized by an IS attack that killed 16 Afghan soldiers in April, Afghan commanders wanted the American and Afghan special operations forces to carry the fight. But ground units are needed to hold territory, so U.S. advisers were forced to spend weeks cajoling the Afghan Army to join the battle.

Ultimately, they did. But U.S. military officials say such episodes underscore the need for more advisers, and as a result, more troops to protect them as they move into places like Nangarhar, an IS stronghold and notoriously difficult fighting arena. The province is home to Tora Bora, a network of caves where Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaida militants eluded capture and survived a massive American bombing campaign early in the war.

Without the enhanced training that additional forces would make possible, Sandor said, “it’s hard to turn the corner and make them better.”

The advisers, however, also point to progress.

In January, Afghan forces trying to resupply troops to the north would only go out with U.S. aircraft and escorts. A month later, with training and encouragement, the Afghans were using their own gunships and artillery support on the supply runs, with no U.S. assistance.

“We took them from ‘we can help, but if we do it, you’ll never figure it out,’” said Maj. Richard Anderson, operations adviser for 201st corps. “At times it seems like a drag is there, but once you get them to the point … they can do it.”

The top Afghan commander at Gamberi credits the advisers with increasing his corps’ readiness.

“I want to have enough equipment and advisers to keep my troops equipped, and help against the enemy,” said Lt. Gen. Mohammad Zaman Waziri, 201st Corps commander. More advisors, he added, could help the corps get light and heavy weapons and the training needed to use them, “because the enemy has a lot of capability and has not weakened as much as we would want them to.”

Like many Afghan commanders, Waziri would like even more. He recalls the time before the Obama administration scaled back operations, when U.S. troops fought with Afghans and provided far more air support. He’d like such support again.

Waziri said his troops were thrilled when the U.S. dropped the Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb, or MOAB, on IS insurgents in Nangarhar province in April. It was the first time the largest non-nuclear bomb was ever dropped in combat, and Afghans estimated nearly 100 killed.

“If there is any bigger bomb than MOAB they should drop that, too,” he said. –AP

Afghanistan: An Afghan teenager fatally stabbed an American soldier in the neck as he played with children in eastern Afghanistan, officials said Monday, as the U.S. death toll rose sharply last month with an uptick in fighting due to warmer weather.

Last week’s calculated attack shows that international troops still face a myriad of dangers even though they are increasingly taking a back seat in operations with Afghan forces ahead of a full withdrawal by the end of 2014.

Just one U.S. service member was killed in February — a five-year monthly low — but the American death toll climbed to at least 14 last month.

Overall, the number of Americans and other foreign forces killed inAfghanistan has fallen as their role shifts more toward training and advising government troops instead of fighting.

But a series of so-called insider attacks on foreign troops by Afghan forces of insurgents disguised as them has threatened to undermine the trust needed to help President Hamid Karzai’s government take the lead in securing the country after more than 11 years at war.

The attack that killed Sgt. Michael Cable, 26, of Philpot, Ky., last Wednesday occurred after the soldiers had secured an area for a meeting of U.S. and Afghan officials in a province near the volatile border with Pakistan.

But one of two senior U.S. officials who confirmed that Cable had been stabbed by a young man said the assailant was not believed to have been in uniform so it was not being classified as an insider attack.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing, said the attacker was thought to be about 16 years old. He escaped so his age couldn’t be verified.

Cable’s brother Raymond Johnston, a 42-year-old waiter in Owensboro, Ky., said the Army told the family the basics of what happened and that his brother was stabbed in the neck from behind.

Johnston said his brother, who also did a tour of duty in Iraq, was “prepared before he left for anything that happened” in Afghanistan.

Cable met individually with Johnston and three other family members before leaving for Afghanistan and had similar conversations with each — that the deployment was extremely hazardous and that his family and friends should “continue to enjoy life” if he was killed.

“He was able to communicate to the family about if the worst was supposed to happen, what we were supposed to do,” Johnston said.

Cable’s body was scheduled to return to Owensboro in western Kentucky on Thursday. Visitation was scheduled for Friday with the funeral set for Saturday.

The Afghan and American dignitaries were attending the swearing-in ceremony of Afghan Local Policein Shinwar district in Nangarhar province, senior district official Zalmai Khan said. Afghan Local Police, or ALP, recruits are drawn from villages and backed by the U.S. military.

The soldier was playing with children outside when the attacker came from behind and stabbed him in the neck with a large knife, Khan said. Other guards nearby didn’t immediately notice what had happened because there was no gunshot, and the assailant was able to flee to neighboring Pakistan, he added.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid identified the attacker as a 16-year-old local man named Khalid. He said Khalid was acting independently when he killed the soldier but had joined the Islamic militant movement since fleeing the scene.

The district official Khan did not provide a name or confirm the Taliban’s claim.

The Pentagon said in a statement last week that Cable, died from injuries sustained when his unit was attacked by enemy forces.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Afghan army is training femalespecial forces to take part in night raids against insurgents, breaking new ground in an ultraconservative society and filling a vacuum left by departing international forces.

“If men can carry out this duty why not women?” asks Lena Abdali, a 23-year-old Afghan soldier who was one of the first women to join one of the special units in 2011.

Night raids have long been a divisive issue between Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who doesn’t want foreign troops entering Afghan homes, and the U.S.-led coalition that says the raids are essential to capturing Taliban commanders.

Many Afghans, however, have complained that the house raids are culturally offensive. Having male troops search Afghan females is taboo. So is touching a family’s Quran, the Muslim holy book, or entering a home without being invited. Another focus of anger has been the disregard for privacy and Afghan culture because women and children are usually home during the raids.

The raids now are conducted jointly by U.S. and Afghan forces, but the female Afghan special forces soldiers play an important role. Their job: Round up women and children and get them to safety while guarding against the potential dangers of female suicide bombers or militants disguised in women’s clothes.

The missions have taken on increasing importance and the Afghan government and the U.S.-led coalition have stepped up training of the Afghan special forces as international troops prepare to end their combat mission in 23 months.

President Barack Obama announced earlier this week that he will withdraw about half of the 66,000 U.S. troops now in Afghanistan within a year. He did not spell out what U.S. military presence would remain after 2014.

Afghan women have been part of their nation’s security forces for years, but they didn’t start being recruited for the special forces until 2011. Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi said more than 1,000 women were in the army — a small fraction of the total force of 195,000.

The role of female soldiers also has come under debate in the United States after the Pentagon decided last month to open up front-line combat jobs to women.

Col. Jalaluddin Yaftaly, the commander of the joint Special Unit of the Afghan National Army, said villagers don’t like foreign forces to carry out operations in their homes, but they have welcomed the Afghan special forces units and cooperated with them in many operations.

“We were faced with so many problems when we didn’t have female special forces in our units,” Yaftaly said. “Female special forces are quite useful.”

On a recent frigid winter morning, an Afghan special forces unit, comprising 30 men and women soldiers, drilled at a training center in Kabul.

As part of the exercise, the unit was told that an insurgent leader was hiding in a house and women and children were inside with him.

The men on the team prepared to raid the house and arrest or kill the target. Abdali and two other female colleagues were tasked with making sure no women or children were harmed during the operation.

The most dangerous part of their assignment was the possibility that the main target was hiding among the women — perhaps in disguise — so Abdali and her colleagues had to stay alert to make sure they themselves were not attacked while getting innocent women and children out of harm’s way.

The military advantages to having Afghan female special forces soldiers, however, have not yet offset the social issues women like Abdali face in doing their jobs.

A woman conducting night raids with male soldiers in a conservative country like Afghanistan is still not socially acceptable. Before she starts to fight the enemy in military operations she has to struggle with her family, relatives and others who might disapprove.

Abdali said that while she hides her occupation from many family members because of security concerns, she is proud to fulfill a duty she feels is important to her homeland.

“If I will not come and put my life in danger for the women and culture in Afghanistan, then who will do this?” she asked.

Abdali wears a traditional Afghan headscarf under her helmet, but otherwise she is clad in an army uniform and heavy flak jacket just like the men. Her weapon and equipment is heavy, but she runs with it along the peaks of snow-covered mountains, unpaved roads under the hot summer sun and on rugged paths in remote areas of the country.

“Women must show their bravery and power by carrying out this duty as men do,” Abdali said as she loaded her weapon to take part in the drill.

“Move to your vehicles!” the unit commander shouted.

The unit ran from their formations to six armored vehicles and started toward the target. Along the way, the commander repeated a description of the house where the Taliban leader was believed to be hiding and instructed the unit on how to surround it and arrest the suspect.

The special forces soldiers crawled on the snow-covered ground up to the house.

“You have no place to hide. Please surrender yourself,” one soldier shouted.

Defense Ministry spokesman Mohammad Zahir Azimi said on Wednesday that Afghan troops will fill the “vacuum” caused by the withdrawal of 34,000 U.S. troops over the next 12 months.

Obama told Americans about his decision in his State of the Union speech. He had earlier briefedAfghan President Hamid Karzai.

Karzai’s office said the two leaders discussed strengthening and equipping the Afghan forces and a pending security agreement that will determine whether the U.S. will retain soldiers here after most foreign troops leave at the end of 2014.