A senior American general has recommended the White House resume offensive airstrikes against the Taliban in Afghanistan, according to a report.
General John F. Campbell, who was the commander of US forces in Afghanistan until earlier this month, broke with standard military procedure in recent weeks and sent his proposal directly to the White House without giving a notice to Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, the Washington Post reported.
The move angered senior Pentagon officials and exposed the rift between the administration and the military on the US role in Afghanistan.
Campbell recently told soldiers at a US base in Afghanistan that Taliban militants believe “they are operating from a position of strength” in the absence of a robust US military presence in the country.
The general, who will soon retire from the US Army, denied that he went around his civilian bosses at the Pentagon.
“I forwarded my recommendations through my chain of command,…