Saturday, May 13, 2017

No White House Decision Yet On Boosting The U.S. Troop Presence In Afghanistan


White House national security adviser H.R. McMaster appears at the 0:50 mark of the video.

Washington Post: Trump has yet to make decision on boosting troop presence in Afghanistan

President Trump has not yet made a decision on whether to approve a military proposal to expand the U.S. role in Afghanistan with more troops, and may not do so until after his upcoming foreign trip, White House national security adviser H.R. McMaster said Friday.

In a briefing on the nine-day, four-country tour, McMaster said that “the President wants to hear from our allies” about the plan, and “he’ll have an opportunity to do so at the NATO summit,” on May 25 in Brussels, and at a meeting the next day with Group of Seven partners in Sicily.

“What we’ll have at the end of this next few weeks . . . is an opportunity for a much more effective strategy for the problem set in Afghanistan, Pakistan and the region broadly,” McMaster said.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: At the beginning of this month the understanding was that an Afghan troop surge decision by President Trump would be made around now. But after yesterday's remarks by White House national security adviser H.R. McMaster .... it looks like such a decision will only be made after this month's NATO meeting in Brussels .... or in June. This is telling me that President Trump is reluctant to commit U.S. troops .... and certainly not without assistance from NATO members. I still expect a U.S. troop surge and a change in the rules of engagement .... but there is clearly no enthusiasm to make this deployment .... and rightly so.

More News On No Decision Yet On Boosting U.S. Forces In Afghanistan

McMaster: No decision on sending more troops to Afghanistan -- AP
No Decisions Yet on Sending More Troops to Afghanistan, Somalia -- Military.com
McMaster: Trump's Decision on Sending US Troops to Afghanistan Yet to Come -- Sputnik

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