Trump reviewing options for Afghan war strategy Heather Heyer’s mom won’t speak to president
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is “studying and considering his options” for a new approach to Afghanistan and the broader South Asia region, the White House said Friday after the president huddled with his top national security aides at Camp David.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders issued a brief statement saying Trump had been briefed on a new strategy to “protect America’s interests” in the region. She did not mention Afghanistan.
“The president is studying and considering his options and will make an announcement to the American people, to our allies and partners, and to the world at the appropriate time,” she said.
The administration has struggled for months to formulate a new approach to the war.
But stepping up the fight in a way that advances peace prospects may be even more difficult, in part because the Taliban have been gaining ground and show no interest in peace negotiations.
Trump met at the presidential retreat in nearby Maryland with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, top intelligence agency officials and other top military and diplomatic aides.
Mattis said earlier this week the administration was “very close” to finalizing a new approach.
The meeting participants did not include Gen. Joseph Votel, the Central Command chief responsible for U.S. military operations in the greater Middle East, including Afghanistan. Votel told reporters traveling with him in the region this week that Mattis and Gen. Joseph Dunford, the Joint Chiefs chairman, represent him in the White House-led Afghanistan strategy review. Votel said he has not talked directly to Trump as part of the monthslong review.
By retreating to the seclusion of Camp David in Maryland’s Catoctin Mountains, Trump was taking an opportunity to regroup after a politically bruising week of criticism of his response to the deadly protests in Charlottesville, Va.
Solutions for Afghanistan, the longest war in American history, eluded the Obama administration and haven’t come easily to Trump, who said almost nothing about the conflict during his presidential campaign. Since taking office, he has considered options ranging from walking away from the war to sending in additional troops.
Abandoning Afghanistan is seen as unlikely in light of U.S. concerns about countering terrorism.
Months ago the Pentagon settled on a plan to send 3,800 additional troops to strengthen the Afghan army, stuck in what some call a deteriorating situation with the Taliban insurgency.
Within the White House, questions persist about the wisdom of investing further resources in the war. Even if the administration decides to add more troops, it’s unclear whether they could get there quickly enough to make a difference in the current Afghan fighting season, which winds down in autumn.
The U.S. has 8,400 troops in Afghanistan. Their primary roles are to train and advise Afghan forces and to hunt and kill members of al-Qaida and other extremist groups.
The mother of Heather Heyer, the woman killed last weekend in Charlottesville, Va., said she has no plans to speak to President Donald Trump after he equated protesters like her daughter with the white supremacists who had marched on the city.
“After what he said about my child, and — it’s not that I saw somebody else’s tweets about him, I saw an actual clip of him at a press conference equating the protesters like Ms. Heyer with the KKK and the white supremacists,” Heyer’s mother, Susan Bro, told “Good Morning America” on Friday.
“You can’t wash this one away by shaking my hand and saying I’m sorry,” Bro said. “I’m not forgiving for that.”
Bro’s comments marked a sharp, personal response to Trump’s statement that “both sides” were to blame for the violence in Charlottesville that erupted when counterprotesters confronted white supremacists and neo-Nazis who had marched there for a rally.
“Do they have any semblance of guilt?” Trump asked of the counterprotesters. “Do they have any problem? I think they do.”
Trump had also expressed kind words for Heyer, tweeting that she was “a truly special young woman.”
“Memorial service today for beautiful and incredible Heather Heyer, a truly special young woman. She will be long remembered by all!” he wrote Wednesday.
Bro said that she initially missed the first call from the White House because it appeared to come during Heyer’s funeral Wednesday, four days after she was killed in what federal officials say may have been a terrorist attack as well as a hate crime. Bro said “three more frantic messages from press secretaries” followed throughout the day Wednesday, but she said she did not respond because she was home recovering from the service.
It was not until Thursday night that Bro said she was able to watch the news and, she said, see a clip of Trump’s comments.
“I’m not talking to the president now,” she said Friday. When asked what message she might have for Trump, Bro said: “Think before you speak.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Bro had also told MSNBC on Thursday that she received death threats since speaking about her daughter at Heyer’s memorial service in Charlottesville.
“They tried to kill my child to shut her up, but guess what, you just magnified her,” Bro had said during the service, prompting an ovation.
Trump has drawn intense criticism for his response to the chaos in Charlottesville. His first remarks, delivered Saturday after Heyer was killed, prompted a backlash when Trump denounced “hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides” and did not specifically single out white supremacists or neoNazis.
On Monday, Trump then called out those groups by name, saying that “racism is evil and those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs.”
Bro released a statement that day thanking Trump for his “words of comfort and denouncing those who promote violence and hatred.”
However, a day later Trump returned to his declaration that “both sides” were to blame for the violence during a remarkable news conference in New York.
During the news conference, Trump also offered kind words for Heyer and thanked Bro for her statement about him.
Trump also pilloried James Alex Fields Jr., 20, who police said plowed into Heyer and other counterprotesters.