Changing his mind
In the past, Trump has been critical of his predecessors over their policy on Afghanistan
OCT 7, 2011: When will we stop wasting our money on rebuilding Afghanistan?
We must rebuild our country first. FEB 27, 2012: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. JAN 1, 2013: Can you believe that the Afghan war is our “longest war” ever—bring our troops home, rebuild the U.S., make America great again
MARCH 3, 2016: I think you have to stay in Afghanistan for a while, because of the fact that you're right next to Pakistan, which has nuclear weapons, and we have to protect that. (Debating with fellow presidential candidates)
JULY 18, 2017: We’ve been there for now close to 17 years, and I want to find out why... how it’s going, and what we should do in terms of additional ideas. I’ve heard plenty of ideas from a lot of people, but I want to hear it from the people on the ground.
(During a meeting with service members)