Carter: Afghanistan strategy changes meant to give commanders flexibility

Defense Secretary Ash Carter said on Friday that changes to the Afghanistan strategy are designed to give commanders flexibility in helping Afghan forces.

“The president made a decision to enable the commander there to have some additional authority to act proactively, that is to anticipate situations in which Afghan Security Forces would benefit from our support,” Carter said at the Defense One Tech summit on Friday. “This is using the forces we have here in a better way, basically, as we go through this fighting season, rather than being simply reactive.”