US President Donald Trump tweeted early Saturday that "many decisions" had been made in a meeting with his top military advisers, including on the 16-year-old war in Afghanistan. The Trump administration, wary of international involvements but eager for progress in the grueling Afghan war, has been weighing a range of options. It had originally promised a new plan by mid-July.
On Saturday, Trump tweeted about the meeting a day earlier at the presidential retreat in Maryland, saying: "Important day spent at Camp David with our very talented Generals and military leaders. Many decisions made, including on Afghanistan." It was unclear how far-ranging those decisions might be, or when they would be announced.
But Trump is said to be dissatisfied by initial proposals to add a few thousand more troops in the country, and advisers were studying an expanded strategy for the broader South Asian region, including Pakistan. There are now about 8,400 US and 5,000 Nato troops supporting Afghanistan's security forces in the fight against Taliban and other militants. But the situation has remained as deadly as ever, with more than 2,500 Afghan police and troops killed from January 1 to May 8.
NNI adds: US President Donald Trump wants to cut off all military aid to Pakistan, a Foreign Policy report said. The Foreign Policy report quoted an unnamed US official saying that Trump's new strategy for Afghanistan would change the US relationship with Pakistan significantly.
"The president thinks we're being ripped off by Pakistan," the administration official claimed. "He's just pissed about this. The DoD view is it is a troubled relationship, but we need logistics." "That's part of the strategy," the official said.
The Pentagon has already frozen support to Islamabad under the Coalition Support Fund. In regards to freezing payments, US Defence Secretary James Mattis said he couldn't certify that Pakistan had taken sufficient actions against the Haqqani network, an insurgent group based in Afghanistan.
Cutting off support for Pakistan would raise yet more problems, however. For years, both diplomats and generals have agreed that the only way to ensure the survival of the Afghan government and bring an end to the war is a negotiated settlement with the Taliban.