President Trump's Afghan Policy Will Be Different From President Obama's

Eli Lake, Bloomberg: How Trump's Afghan Policy Is Different From Obama's

A new approach would aim to empower the government without telegraphing a withdrawal date for U.S. troops.

Every disclosure about the Trump administration's forthcoming Afghanistan strategy triggers a chorus like a Passover seder: Why is this strategy different from all other strategies?

The goal is the same. Like President Barack Obama's initial Afghanistan surge, the objective for Trump's strategy is to force the Taliban into peace talks and to push for a negotiated settlement to the conflict on terms favorable to the elected government.

The means are essentially the same. Like Obama in setting his second-term policy, President Donald Trump has signaled he does not want to send a large force to take back the country, province by province.

The bright line is the same. Like most American politicians since George W. Bush, Trump does not want to get sucked into a money pit of even more nation building.

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WNU Editor: This is one of the best analysis I have read (so far) on what will be the new U.S. approach and strategy towards Afghanistan .... and it falls in line with what I have been saying for the past month on what will be this new U.S. policy/strategy. There has to be a realisation that this is a long term war .... and the U.S. role in cooperation with its allies must focus on provide training and material under the umbrella of the international community (or at least a good part of it) for the Afghan government to fight it. Withdrawal dates and public announcements that the U.S. would leave would only serve (as it has in the past) to embolden the Taliban to continue the war. The involvement of India as a counter to Pakistan is also a good strategy in that it gives the U.S. some leverage on Pakistan and it's support of safe havens for Taliban groups like the Haqqani network. And while I do expect Pakistan to react strongly (and violently) against this U.S. strategy .... in the end it will be Pakistan's interest to change its own policies .... especially if they see themselves isolated if other regional powers (like China) become involved .... which I expect they will do so in time. If I have to hazard a guess .... this new strategy has US Secretary of Defense John Mattis' and Secretary of State Tillerson's fingerprints all over it.