Trump Settles on Afghan Strategy Expected to Raise Troop Levels
Moreover, many officials believe they need to do so without setting firm deadlines for reducing or withdrawing American troops, a practice President Obama embraced
but which Trump officials assert denied the military needed flexibility and played into the hands of the United States’ adversaries.
The decision on troops is just one component of a military and political plan for the region
that Mr. Trump and his aides have been discussing for months, and it is politically important for the president to differentiate his approach from the Obama-era policies he sharply criticized.
20, 2017
AMMAN, Jordan — President Trump, who has been accused by lawmakers of dragging his feet on Afghanistan, has settled
on a new strategy to carry on the nearly 16-year-old conflict there, administration officials said Sunday.
The White House said in a statement that Mr. Trump would address the American public
and American troops "on a path forward for America’s engagement in Afghanistan and South Asia" in a speech at Fort Myer, Va., Monday night.
As recently as Monday, Mr. Mattis said that administration was weighing some radically different approaches, including withdrawing American forces
and sending contractors to fight in Afghanistan rather than troops.
The Afghanistan question has been the source of a long-running debate at the White House, Stephen K. Bannon, who was recently removed as a top Trump adviser, fought the military’s recommendation for more troops
and backed a number of alternative options — including using private contractors instead of United States forces.