Trump ‘to put more troops into Afghanistan’

DONALD TRUMP was last night due to announce his new strategy for how to tackle the war in Afghanistan, which is America’s longest military conflict.

Several White House officials said the president would deploy up to 4,000 additional troops to the country to combat a resurgent Taliban and the growing number of fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in the country. There were reports last night that the US was putting pressure on Britain and other Nato allies to also increase troop numbers in Afghanistan.

There are currently up to 585 British troops still stationed in Afghanistan alongside 8,400 American soldiers.

Mr Trump frequently questioned US policy in Afghanistan on the campaign trail. He was sceptical about the merits of sending more troops and said the US should quickly pull out of the country.

However, he also vowed to start winning wars and his military advisers appear to have convinced him that any victory against the Taliban and Isil factions would be impossible without more troops.

The president announced a strategic review shortly after his inauguration in January and later gave James Mattis, the defence secretary, the authority to set troop levels in Afghanistan. “We’re not winning,” Mr Trump told advisers in July and reportedly questioned whether Gen John Nicholson, who leads US and international forces in Afghanistan, should be fired. “I took over a mess, and we’re going to make it a lot less messy,” Mr Trump said this month.

Wary that the president is prone to last-minute decisions, officials at the White House, Pentagon and state department did not disclose details of his address yesterday. But Mr Mattis said on Sunday that the administration’s new policy went beyond Afghanistan and was a full “South Asia strategy”.

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: “As announced in June, we are already in the process of deploying an additional 85 British military personnel to Afghanistan, bringing our total contribution to 585. Britain and our allies have an enduring commitment to Afghanistan, and this support helps to prevent the country from becoming a safe haven for terror.”