Trump announces Afghanistan war policy shift (LIVE VIDEO)
RT,
21
August, 2017
President
Donald Trump is anticipated to announce a new Afghanistan policy in a
national address on the war at the Army's Joint Base Myer-Henderson
Hall, next to Arlington National Cemetery.
Trump
began his remarks addressing the recent violent political divisions,
most vividly seen in Charlottesville, Virginia, last week.
"When
one part of America hurts, we all hurt," Trump said, adding,
"Loyalty to our nation demands loyalty to one another."
Trump
added that US troops fighting wars abroad "deserve to return to
a country that is not at war with itself at home."
Trump
acknowledged that his "instincts" told him to pull out
troops from Afghanistan.
"Historically,
I like following my instincts," Trump said. He concluded
differently, however.
"A
hasty withdrawal," Trump said, would create a "vacuum"
for terrorists.
Trump
lamented the 20 terrorist groups operating in Afghanistan and
Pakistan, the "highest concentration in any region, anywhere in
the world," he said.
"Pakistan
often gives safe haven to agents of chaos," he said, noting that
there is nuclear-powered tensions between Pakistan and its neighbor
India.
Trump
called terrorists "nothing but thugs and criminals and, that's
right, losers."
"We
will not talk about numbers of troops," Trump said.
"Conditions
on the ground," not public timetables, will determine the US'
strategy, he said.
"I
will not say when we are going to attack, but attack we will,"
he added.
"We
are not nation building again. We are killing terrorists," he
said.
Trump
was widely expected to heed the advice of his senior advisors Monday
evening and announce an increase of the number of US troops in
Afghanistan, which currently stands around 8,400.
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