Washington: President Donald Trump has declared drug cartels to be unlawful combatants and says the United States is now in a “non-international armed conflict”, according to a Trump administration memo.

Following recent American strikes on boats in the Caribbean, Congress was notified about the designation by Pentagon officials this week, according to a person familiar with the matter who was not authorised to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office this week. Credit: AP

The memo, obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday, Washington time, is startling in scope and signals a potential new moment not just in the US administration’s willingness to reach beyond the norms of presidential authority to wage war, but in th

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