The US government, especially the military, usually projected
an optimistic view of the security situation in Afghanistan. Victory was said
to be around the corner. In 2003, the Defense Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld said
the war in Afghanistan was ending. In 2008, President George Bush was led to
declare that US troops were coming back. President Obama opposed the ‘dumb war’
in Iraq as well as the war in Afghanistan but he succumbed to pressure of
lobbies and instead authorized an increased in force strength of 100,000
troops. Donald Trump, too, initially favored withdrawal but his advisers
convinced him of an opposite strategy.
On 21 August 2017, President Trump reversed Obama’s ‘hasty and mistaken’ policy of military withdrawal from Afghanistan and declared instead to continue support of Afghan government and military to confront the Taliban. Referring to Pakistan as ‘a valued friend in the past,’ Trump accused Islamabad of providing ‘safe havens for terrorist organizations that killed Americans’ and warned of ‘fast and powerful retribution against the Taliban and other groups that posed a threat to the region and beyond.’ The threat to peace, he said, was ‘worse because Pakistan and India were nuclear armed states with tense relations that could spiral in to conflict.’ He also announced that the US would further develop strategic partnership with India and want it to help Afghanistan in its economic assistance and development.
On 21 August 2017, President Trump reversed Obama’s ‘hasty and mistaken’ policy of military withdrawal from Afghanistan and declared instead to continue support of Afghan government and military to confront the Taliban. Referring to Pakistan as ‘a valued friend in the past,’ Trump accused Islamabad of providing ‘safe havens for terrorist organizations that killed Americans’ and warned of ‘fast and powerful retribution against the Taliban and other groups that posed a threat to the region and beyond.’ The threat to peace, he said, was ‘worse because Pakistan and India were nuclear armed states with tense relations that could spiral in to conflict.’ He also announced that the US would further develop strategic partnership with India and want it to help Afghanistan in its economic assistance and development.
