Trump's Plan for Afghanistan: No Timeline for Exit
Updated at 10:13 p.m. ET
What a difference four years and a presidential election victory make. In 2013, Donald Trump offered this prescription for what the U.S. should do in Afghanistan:
We have wasted an enormous amount of blood and treasure in Afghanistan. Their government has zero appreciation. Let's get out!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 21, 2013
On Monday night, Trump offered a new plan for Afghanistan, combing a military strategy with one that puts Pakistan on notice for supporting militants, and saying while the U.S. wanted the Afghan government to succeed, U.S. support was not a “blank check.” Trump also moved decisively away from the Bush-era policy of the U.S. as a force to spread democracy overseas.
“We are not nation-building again,” he said. “We are killing terrorists.”
Rex Tillerson, his secretary of state, went further. In a statement released after Trump’s remarks, he said the U.S. was making clear the Taliban will not win on the battlefield.
“The Taliban has a path to peace and political legitimacy through a negotiated political settlement
