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Washington/Kabul, August 22
President Donald Trump committed US troops to an open-ended war in Afghanistan, a decision the Afghan government welcomed on Tuesday but which Taliban insurgents warned would make the country a “graveyard for the American empire”.
While Trump offered few specifics in his first prime-time televised address to the nation as commander-in-chief on Monday, he promised a stepped-up military campaign against the Taliban which have gained ground against US-backed Afghan forces.
While Trump said he would not discuss troop levels or details of the new strategy, US officials said on Monday he had signed off on Defence Secretary James Mattis’ plans to send about 4,000 more troops to Afghanistan.
Trump said “our troops will fight to win” and stressed that ultimately Afghanistan’s police and army must do most of the fighting to defeat the Taliban and allied Islamist militants.
“The stronger the Afghan security forces become, the less we will have to do.... We want them to succeed.” Most of the approximately 8,400 US troops in Afghanistan work with a NATO-led training and advising mission, with the rest part of a counter-terrorism force that mostly targets pockets of al Qaeda and Islamic State fighters.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani welcomed the strategy saying it would expand the training mission for Afghan forces, which includes building its fledgling air force and doubling the size of the Afghan special forces.
“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. The Taliban swiftly condemned Trump’s decision.
“If the US 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.
US-backed Afghan forces overthrew the Taliban’s hard-line Islamist government in late 2001 over its sheltering of Al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden, architect of the September 11, 2001, attacks in US cities that killed nearly 2,000 people. But US forces have been bogged down ever since in a war that has vexed three presidents. About 2,400 U.S. troops have died in Afghanistan.
Trump, who had criticized his predecessor for setting deadlines for drawing down troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, declined to put a timeline on expanded U.S. operations in Afghanistan.
Former President Barack Obama’s deadlines for troop decreases brought the US military footprint from about 100,000 in 2011 to 8,400.
Trump also said he had expanded the US military’s authority for its forces to target militant and criminal networks, warning “that no place is beyond the reach of American arms”. — Reuters
}My original instinct was to pull out all American troops but
"was convinced by my military advisers after a lengthy review of the United States’ longest war. A hasty withdrawal would create a vacuum that terrorists, including Islamic State and Al-Qaida, would instantly fill."
— Donald Trump, us president
Why US can’t pull out
The US first invaded Afghanistan on October 7, 2001, accusing the country’s then Taliban government of sheltering Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of 9/11 terror attacks. The Afghanistan war has dragged on with no end in sight for 16 years. The Taliban still control 37% of the country with 35,000 militants in action
Casualties so far
Boots on ground
US combat operations against the Taliban officially ended in 2014. However, more than 8,000 special forces continue to provide support to Afghan troops
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