Donald Trump wants to send more troops into Afghanistan
(Credit: AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
President Donald Trump is planning on escalating America’s decade-and-a-half long war in Afghanistan.
Trump’s new war policy will almost certainly make it possible for America to deploy thousands more troops into the war-torn country, according to a report by The New York Times. The decision was made after a considerable push to increase America’s involvement in Afghanistan by Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis.
This isn’t the first time that Mattis has won a major battle for Trump’s soul over the Afghanistan war. In June he successfully received authorization to send as many as 3,900 troops to Afghanistan. Mattis decided not to send too many troops there, however, until he had first agreed upon a broader strategy with Trump himself.
Trump is expected to further elaborate on his new Afghanistan policy in a speech at Fort Myer, Virginia on Monday night.
If the president does indeed escalate the war in that country, it will mark a significant shift in his anti-war rhetoric from only a few years ago.
When will we stop wasting our money on rebuilding Afghanistan? We must rebuild our country first.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 7, 2011
It is time to get out of Afghanistan. We are building roads and schools for people that hate us. It is not in our national interests.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 27, 2012
China is getting minerals from Afghanistan http://t.co/uNxQYQWi We are getting our troops killed by the Afghani govt't. Time to get out.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 29, 2012
Why are we continuing to train these Afghanis who then shoot our soldiers in the back? Afghanistan is a complete waste. Time to come home!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 21, 2012
84% of US troops wounded & 70% of our brave men & women killed in Afghanistan have all come under Obama. Time to get out of there.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 11, 2012
Karzai of Afghanistan is not sticking with our signed agreement. They are dropping us like dopes. Get out now and re-build U.S.!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 6, 2012
Let’s get out of Afghanistan. Our troops are being killed by the Afghanis we train and we waste billions there. Nonsense! Rebuild the USA.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 11, 2013
I agree with Pres. Obama on Afghanistan. We should have a speedy withdrawal. Why should we keep wasting our money — rebuild the U.S.!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 14, 2013
We should leave Afghanistan immediately. No more wasted lives. If we have to go back in, we go in hard & quick. Rebuild the US first.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 1, 2013
It is widely expected that Trump will attempt to sell his new policies to the public by emphasizing that the escalation will have a definite ending point in site and that it is necessary to effectively fight terrorism.
One White House adviser who had urged Trump not to escalate the Afghanistan war was chief strategist Steve Bannon — who was fired last week.
A major strategic goal of the American military is to shut down Taliban sanctuaries in Pakistan, including the Haqqani network which American intelligence believe played a role in terrorist attack in the Kabul area of Afghanistan.
This isn’t the first time that the Trump administration has talked of escalating the war in Afghanistan. Reports existed from as far back as May that Trump would further escalate the war, and one month earlier he had dropped the so-called “mother of all bombs” on that country.
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