desire to reverse worsening security in Afghanistan and ‘start winning’ again. … The new strategy, which has the backing of top Cabinet officials, would authorize the Pentagon, not the White House, to set troop numbers in Afghanistan and give the military far broader authority to use airstrikes to target Taliban militants. It would also lift Obama-era restrictions that limited the mobility of U.S. military advisers on the battlefield."

The plan envisions an increase of at least 3,000 U.S. troops to an existing force of about 8,400. The U.S. force would also be bolstered by requests for matching troops from NATO nations.

Trump is expected to make a final call on the strategy before a May 25 NATO summit in Brussels that he plans to attend.

The proposal faces resistance from somenumbers are down and their leadership is in disarray after a U.S.-Afghan commando raid in late April killed the group’s senior regional leader, Abdul Hasib. It also underscores the intensifying focus on Nangahar, where on April 13 the U.S. military dropped its largest non-nuclear bomb on a complex of caves and tunnels used by the Islamic State, reportedly killing 36 militants. Nangahar, on the border with Pakistan, is a main route for militant fighters and supplies.”

BACK FROM THE BRINK:

-- The Washington Capitals were businesslike in their clinical 5-2 dismantling of the Pittsburgh Penguins last night, and they played with the poise of a team whose work isn’t done yet. Isabelle Khurshudyan reports: “The Capitals tied this Eastern Conference semifinal series at three games apiece to force a Game