TRUMP QUESTIONS HIS OWN STRATEGY: The Afghanistan strategy President Trump announced in summer 2017 aimed to convince the Taliban the U.S. would not cut and run. That approach remains intact a year-and-a-half later, according to the Pentagon’s latest progress report to Congress — released the same day Defense Secretary Jim Mattis resigned. “The key to success remains sustained military pressure against the Taliban,” the December document said. “By convincing the Taliban that they cannot win on the battlefield, and credibly committing to a conditions based strategy, we have greatly increased the odds of concluding a settlement on terms favorable to the United States and Afghanistan.”

Yesterday Trump couldn’t have made his impatience with that strategy and its lack of progress clearer, and he blamed Mattis, a key architect of the plan. “What’s he done for me? How has he done in Afghanistan? Not too good, not too good. I’m not happy with what he’s done in Afghanistan and I shouldn’t be happy,” Trump said during a 98-minute engagement with the media during a Cabinet meeting. “I wish him well, I hope he does well, but as you know, President Obama fired him and, essentially, so did I. I want results.”