On Monday, Aug. 21, President Donald Trump announced his foreign policy plan for Afghanistan.

Trump’s new plan has many different aspects to it. For example, Trump is now allowing the Pentagon to put more troops on the ground.

“Conditions on the ground,” Trump said, “will guide our strategy from now on.”

Trump is also allowing the military to be more dissolute about attacking the Taliban.

“These killers need to know they have nowhere to hide,” Trump said.

Trump also wants to start negotiating with the Taliban to end conflict in Afghanistan. He is insistent that there will be no time table for the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. He believes that time tables were a mistake of the Obama administration.  

“I’ve said it many times how counterproductive it is for the United States to announce the dates we intend to begin or end military operations,” Trump said.

A point Trump made adamant on Monday night was that the U.S. will obtain victory in Afghanistan.

“Our troops will fight to win. We will fight to win,” Trump said.

In addition to continued fighting, Trump also said that the U.S. will no longer try to rebuild the countries they occupy.

“We will no longer use American military might to construct democracies in far-away lands,” he said.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, stated that Trump’s plan was not the correct way to move forward.

“The President’s announcement is low on details but raises serious questions,” she said in a released statement.

The top Democrat on the Senate Armed Forces Committee, Sen. Jack Reed, agreed with Pelosi.

Reed felt the plan was “short on the details our troops and the American people deserve.”

It appears as if Afghanistan will be another point of contention between Republicans and Democrats moving forward.

Photos courtesy of Creative Commons and Myles Cullen

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