US commander to issue Afghan air strikes curb
Gregory Smith
General Stanley McChrystal will issue in the next few days a directive that tells commanders to "work their way through" scenarios that could harm civilians through use of air support  Rear Admiral Gregory Smith said.
 "We are not telling our forces to walk away or back up  especially if our forces are in jeopardy " he told AFP.
 "But in instances when our forces can make the decision to de-escalate (a situation)  they have an opportunity to more deliberately work their way through the problem " he said.
 An example could be deciding not to attack insurgents in a building when it was not certain who was inside  Smith said.
 If they were not in immediate danger  the troops could choose to hold back and call in aerial surveillance of the area  or put in more ground forces or work with the villagers against their targets  he said.
 "You are not just focusing on how to kill the enemy but how to protect the population " he said.
 "Our forces will not be asked to take any more risk and we are not saying that the enemy is going to get a free pass " he said.
 "This new tactical directive will be issued probably in the next days " Smith said.
 Commanders would have to educate their troops all the way down to the last soldier about the new tactical directive  an unclassified version of which may also be released  he said.
General Stanley McChrystal will issue in the next few days a directive that tells commanders to "work their way through" scenarios that could harm civilians through use of air support  [TGT] said.
 "We are not telling our forces to walk away or back up  especially if our forces are in jeopardy " he told AFP.
 "But in instances when our forces can make the decision to de-escalate (a situation)  they have an opportunity to more deliberately work their way through the problem " he said.
 An example could be deciding not to attack insurgents in a building when it was not certain who was inside  [TGT] said.
 If they were not in immediate danger  the troops could choose to hold back and call in aerial surveillance of the area  or put in more ground forces or work with the villagers against their targets  he said.
 "You are not just focusing on how to kill the enemy but how to protect the population " he said.
 "Our forces will not be asked to take any more risk and we are not saying that the enemy is going to get a free pass " he said.
 "This new tactical directive will be issued probably in the next days [TGT] said.
 Commanders would have to educate their troops all the way down to the last soldier about the new tactical directive  an unclassified version of which may also be released  [TGT] said.