Ghani to remove restrictions on operations imposed by Karzai

KABUL, Nov 03 (NNI): President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani is preparing to remove some restrictions on military operations against the Taliban militants imposed by former President Hamid Karzai.

The US and Afghan military officials aware of the progress have said that President Ghani is preparing to reduce restrictions on night raid and use of heavy weapons in residential areas in a bid to make the operations more effective, the Wall Street Journal reported.

This comes as the former President Hamid Karzai issued a decree late in July this year, prohibiting the Afghan national security forces to use heavy weapons in residential areas.

The former President had said the decision was taken to ensure no civilians were harmed during the operations by Afghan national security forces.

Karzai had also restricted the Afghan national security forces to ask for help, specifically air support from the NATO-led coalition forces.

“Since about 2009, the security forces in some instances almost had handcuffs on them because of some of the policies that Karzai had,” said Gen. Campbell told the Wall Street Journal, welcoming Mr. Ghani’s planned changes.

In a decree earlier in last year, Karzai had instructed that the Afghan national security forces can not call for air support from the coalition forces under any circumstances in the villages where civilians are residing.

Karzai was strongly criticized for his decree following the death of 21 Afghan army soldiers following a Taliban attack in Ghaziabad district of Kunar province. NNI