Promising to ‘win,’ Trump says US will keep fighting in Afghanistan
(Worthy News) – Declaring the US will win “in the end,” President Donald Trump vowed Monday night to keep American troops fighting in Afghanistan despite his earlier inclination to withdraw. But he insisted the US would not offer “a blank check” after 16 years of war, and he pointedly declined to say whether or when more troops might be sent.
In a prime-time address billed as the unveiling of his new Afghanistan strategy, Trump said the US would shift away from a “time-based” approach, instead linking its assistance to results and to cooperation from the beleaguered Afghan government, Pakistan and others.
Still, he offered few details about how that approach would differ substantively from what the US has already tried unsuccessfully under the past two presidents. [ Source (Read More…) ]
Afghanistan speech: Trump rejects ‘timetables,’ ups pressure on Pakistan, refocuses on ‘killing terrorists’
President Trump outlined a comprehensive new strategy Monday night for achieving a “lasting peace” in Afghanistan – rejecting what he called “arbitrary timetables” for the U.S. troop presence, ratcheting up pressure on Pakistan to stop harboring militants and vowing to refocus the mission on “killing terrorists,” not nation-building.
“From now on, victory will have a clear definition: attacking our enemies, obliterating ISIS, crushing Al Qaeda, preventing the Taliban from taking over Afghanistan, and stopping mass terror attacks against America,” Trump said, in a primetime address to the nation.
“We are not nation-building again,” Trump said. “We are killing terrorists.” [ Source (Read More…) ]
Trump to send 4,000 more U.S. forces to Afghanistan
But in an implicit shot at former President Barack Obama, he said he would not set an arbitrary timeline or discuss troop numbers in detail but would instead empower the military to give the U.S. a path to victory.
The expected increase of 4,000 additional U.S. forces into Afghanistan will increase the total American force to over 10,000 for the first time since the Pentagon ended combat operations in the country in 2015. Should NATO members opt to match the American increase, the combined U.S.-NATO footprint could exceed 20,000 troops. [ Source (Read More…) ]