President Donald Trump announced a troop increase for the U.S. war in Afghanistan, promising Monday night that “our troops will fight to win” our nation’s longest-running conflict while acknowledging his own change of heart on U.S. foreign policy.
“Our nation must seek an honorable and enduring outcome worthy of the tremendous sacrifices that have been made,” Trump said at a speech in Arlington, Virginia. “The consequences of a rapid exit are both predictable and unacceptable.”
The president said that his national security team had persuaded him to increase U.S. presence in Afghanistan.
“My original instinct was to pull out, and historically I like following my instincts,” Trump said. “But all my life I’ve heard that decisions are much different when you sit behind the desk in the Oval Office.”
But Trump also vowed to avoid the mistakes of previous administrations, eschewing nation-building in favor of pursuing shared interests with allies abroad.
“I share the American people’s frustration over a foreign policy that has spent too much time, energy, money, and most importantly lives trying to rebuild countries in our own image instead of pursuing our security interests above all other considerations,” Trump said. “Ultimately, it is up to the people of Afghanistan to take ownership of their future, to govern their society, and to achieve an everlasting peace. We are a partner and a friend, but we will not dictate to the Afghan people how to live or how to govern their own complex society.”
“We are not nation-building again,” he added. “We are killing terrorists.”
Trump also called on Pakistan to abandon its support of terrorists and make common cause with the United States in Afghanistan.
“The Pakistani people have suffered greatly from terrorism and extremism,” Trump said. “We recognize these contributions and those sacrifices, but Pakistan has also sheltered the same organizations that try every single day to kill our people. We have been paying Pakistan billions and billions of dollars, at the same time they are housing the same terrorists that we are fighting. But that will have to change. And that will change immediately.”
