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Trump Announces Strategy for Afghanistan

<p>In a landmark speech last night&comma; President Donald Trump outlined his new strategy in Afghanistan&comma; a country at war for the last 16 years&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&ldquo&semi;The American people are weary of war without victory&period; I share the American people&rsquo&semi;s frustration&comma;&rdquo&semi; Trump said&comma; but&comma; &ldquo&semi;in the end&comma; we will fight and we will win&period;&rdquo&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>From Fort Meyer&comma; Va&period;&comma; Trump laid out his goals and parameters&colon;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8211&semi; While not providing specifics&comma; other sources have said he will be moving an additional 4000 troops into the country&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8211&semi; This is not nation building&period; &nbsp&semi;&ldquo&semi;I share &lbrack;Americans&&num;8217&semi;&rsqb; frustration over a foreign policy that has spent too much time&comma; energy&comma; money&comma; and most importantly lives trying to rebuild countries in our own image instead of pursuing our security interests above all other consideration&rdquo&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8211&semi; He was deeply critical of Pakistan&period; &ldquo&semi;We can no longer be silent about Pakistan&rsquo&semi;s safe havens for terrorist organizations&comma; the Taliban&comma; and other groups that pose a threat to the region and beyond&period; Pakistan has much to gain from partnering with our effort in Afghanistan&period; &nbsp&semi;It has much to lose by continuing to harbor criminals terrorists&period;&rdquo&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8211&semi; The military will have more autonomy&period; Obama had severe restrictions on operations in Afghanistan&period; Trump has more faith&period; &&num;8220&semi;Micromanagement from Washington&comma; DC&comma; does not win battles&comma;&&num;8221&semi; Trump said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8211&semi; No timelines&period; Trump emphasized that telling the enemy exactly when you were pulling out&comma; as Obama did in Iraq was&nbsp&semi;poor strategy&period; Whether or not the administration has timelines&comma; none will be announced&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The President acknowledged his first instinct was to pull out&comma; however his decision was ultimately to prevent the nation from becoming a safe haven for terrorists&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&ldquo&semi;A hasty withdrawal would create a vacuum that terrorists &mdash&semi; including ISIS and Al Qaeda &mdash&semi; would instantly fill&comma; just as happened before September 11&comma;&rdquo&semi; he added&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>NATO appears to have endorsed the move&period; &ldquo&semi;NATO remains fully committed to Afghanistan and I am looking forward to discussing the way ahead with &lbrack;U&period;S&period; Defense&rsqb; Secretary &lbrack;James&rsqb; Mattis and our allies and international partners&comma;&rdquo&semi; said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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