CLOSING IN ON AFGHANISTAN STRATEGY: President Trump huddles at Camp David today with his national security team (minus Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford, who is in Japan) to try to nail down a way ahead in Afghanistan. The new strategy, promised by mid-July, has been delayed by the president, who has been dissatisfied with the option pushed by the Pentagon to add a few thousand more military trainers from the U.S. and other NATO nations. The plan would also unleash more allied airpower, which has proven to be the decisive factor in enabling U.S.-backed forces in both Iraq and Afghanistan to beat back the Islamic State.

“We will move this toward a decision,” Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said yesterday. “As I said, I think it was yesterday publicly we were coming very close to a decision, and I anticipate it in the very near future.” The Pentagon has been pushing back against others in the White House, notably chief strategist Steve Bannon, who seems to view Afghanistan as a lost cause that should be turned over to private, for-profit contractors to help the Afghan forces battle as America’s longest war stretches into its 16th year.