Trump commits to keeping US in Afghanistan to bring settlement
• U-turn for president who promised to eschew military entanglements and nation-building abroad to focus resources at home
President Donald Trump announced an open-ended commitment to Afghanistan that will put as many as 4,000 more troops into the nation’s longestlasting conflict and keep US forces there as long as it takes to deny terrorists a haven and bring about a political settlement with the Taliban.
The decision marks a turnabout for Trump, who during his presidential campaign only grudgingly acknowledged the need for the US presence in Afghanistan and promised to eschew military entanglements and nation-building abroad to focus resources at home.
“Our nation must seek an honourable and enduring outcome worthy of the tremendous sacrifices that have been made,” Trump said on Monday.
“The consequences of a rapid exit are both predictable and unacceptable,” he said.
Trump declined to specify the number of troops the US would have in Afghanistan or detail what criteria would be used to determine success. But his strategy gives the green light to a plan by Defence Secretary James Mattis to bolster training and support for the Afghan army with about 4,000 additional personnel — a 50% increase in the current US military presence. Mattis said in a statement on Monday several US allies had also committed to increasing troop numbers.
Just as Trump has said China is the key to another longstanding US foreign policy dilemma — persuading North Korea to dismantle its nuclear programmes — the president’s approach focuses on making Pakistan a central component of his strategy. “We can no longer be silent about Pakistan’s safe havens for terrorist organisations, the Taliban, and other groups that pose a threat to the region and beyond,” Trump said.
“Pakistan has much to gain from partnering with our effort in Afghanistan. It has much to lose by continuing to harbour terrorists,” he said.
Rather than a bold break with past US strategy in Afghanistan, Trump is making an adjustment that emphasises diplomatic and economic pressure as much as military might. But the approach fits a pattern that has emerged in Trump’s foreign policy agenda, which avoids the Obama administration penchant for setting deadlines or milestones to get what the US wants.
CORE PILLAR
“A core pillar of our new strategy is a shift from a time-based approach to one based on conditions,” Trump said. “I’ve said many times how counterproductive it is for the US to announce in advance the dates we intend to begin, or end, military operations.”
The US commitment “is not unlimited, and our support is not a blank cheque”, he said.
Although he talked of using economic development as leverage, Trump insisted, “We are not nation building again. We are killing terrorists.”
How the new strategy is received by the public and lawmakers may determine whether Trump can put behind him the multiple controversies and missteps of the past week, one of his most tumultuous in office.
Trump has become increasingly isolated from the Republican establishment in Washington and corporate leaders after his response to August 12 violence
in Virginia appeared to confer some legitimacy on white supremacists. At the same time, the abrupt departure of chief strategist Stephen Bannon on Friday risks distancing the president from the core of his political support.
Several senior Republicans quickly praised Trump’s address. John Cornyn, the number two Senate Republican,
called it a “welcome speech”, and Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida tweeted, “Good #AfghanStrategy & excellent speech by @POTUS laying it out to the nation.”
House Speaker Paul Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican, said during a CNN event he was pleased with what he called “a new Trump doctrine” in Afghanistan.
Trump had been harshly critical of the US intervention, tweeting in 2013, “We should leave Afghanistan immediately. No more wasted lives.” But during his run for the presidency, he shifted, saying in a CNN interview that he “would leave the troops there begrudgingly. Believe me, I’m not happy about it.” Trump acknowledged on
Monday his view had evolved. “My original instinct was to pull out, and historically I like following my instincts, but all of my life I heard that decisions are much different when you sit behind the desk in the Oval Office,” Trump said.
SHORT-TERM SURGE
Vice-President Mike Pence disagreed with critics’ assessments that Trump’s announcement constituted a “flip-flop”.
“The last administration engaged in a short-term surge and then announced a timeline for withdrawal, emboldening the enemy,” Pence told NBC on Tuesday. Trump provided a whole new strategy of “resolve and commitment” that involves not only Afghanistan, but other countries in the region, he said.
As troop levels have waxed and waned since then, the US position has deteriorated.
While Mattis told lawmakers in June that the US is “not winning in Afghanistan right now” — despite spending about $714bn since 2001 — the latest report by the US special inspector-general for Afghanistan reconstruction shows how dire the situation has become.
Military personnel from the US and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation are hunkered down behind blast walls while attacks by Taliban and al-Qaeda militants spike, the report reads.
The government of Afghanistan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani controls only about 60% of the country.
SOUTH ASIA
The path forward under the new strategy extends beyond Afghanistan’s borders. Planning for the new strategy, including at a Camp David meeting at the end of last week, includes the US approach to South Asia. That reflects the view of Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson that any solution for Afghanistan requires getting tough on neighbouring Pakistan for sheltering the Taliban and other groups.
The president agreed in June to let Mattis send more personnel to reinforce the about 8,500 US soldiers in Afghanistan. But the defence secretary held off deploying the additional troops until a broader strategy was in place. Now Trump will have to lean on alliances he has sometimes denigrated to accomplish his goals and engage in the sort of nation-building that he campaigned against.
Trump said he would give more authority to military commanders and lift restrictions that he said were hindering the ability of troops in the field to target terrorist and criminal networks throughout Afghanistan.
“But we will no longer use American military might to construct democracies in faraway lands, or try to rebuild other countries in our own image,” he said, “those days are now over.”
DEPARTURE OF CHIEF STRATEGIST STEPHEN BANNON RISKS DISTANCING THE PRESIDENT FROM THE CORE OF … SUPPORT