Trump commits to open-ended Afghanistan war
U.S. president Donald Trump offered few specifics in a speech but promised a stepped-up military campaign against Taliban insurgents who have gained ground against U.S.-backed Afghan government forces
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump has committed the United States to an open-ended conflict in Afghanistan, reversing course from his campaign pledges and signaling he will send troops to America’s longest war in “a fight to win.”
Trump offered few specifics in a speech on Monday but promised a stepped-up military campaign against Taliban insurgents who have gained ground against U.S.-backed Afghan government forces. He also singled out Pakistan for harbouring militants in safe havens on its soil.
“We are not nation-building again. We are killing terrorists,” he said in a prime-time televised address at a military base outside Washington.
Afghan leader Ashraf Ghani welcomed Trump’s new strategy.
“I am grateful to President Trump and the American people for this affirmation of support ... for our joint struggle to rid the region from the threat of terrorism,” Ghani said in a statement.
Ghani said the new strategy would increase the capacity of the training mission for Afghan national security forces, including enhancing its fledgling air force and doubling the size of the Afghan special forces.
The Taliban swiftly condemned Trump’s decision to keep American troops in Afghanistan without a withdrawal timetable, vowing to continue war until all U.S. soldiers are gone.
“If the U.S. does not pull all its forces out of Afghanistan, we will make this country the 21st century graveyard for the American empire,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement.
Trump ran for the presidency calling for a swift U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and he acknowledged on Monday that he was going against his instincts in approving the new campaign plan sought by his military advisers.
“The consequences of a rapid exit are both predictable and unacceptable,” he said. “A hasty withdrawal would create a vacuum that terrorists, including ISIS and Al Qaeda, would instantly fill.”
Republican Trump, who had criticised his predecessors for setting deadlines for drawing down troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, declined to put a timeline on expanded U.S. military operations in Afghanistan.
Trump now inherits the same challenges as George W. Bush and Barack Obama, including a stubborn Taliban insurgency and a weak, divided government in Kabul. He is laying the groundwork for greater U.S. involvement without a clear end in sight or providing specific benchmarks for success. U.S. officials said he had signed off on Defence Secretary James Mattis’ plans to send about 4,000 more troops to add to the roughly 8,400 already in Afghanistan.