 "Donald Trump")
After months of mulling, President Donald Trump formally announced his strategy for Afghanistan in an hour long speech last week. For citizens of a country that has seen militant violence reach new highs on the back of the gradual withdrawal of US troops there are a number of important takeaways.
Firstly, unlike Obama administration’s deadline-based approach, the new military strategy is ‘conditions-based’, allowing U.S. military commanders in Afghanistan more freedom to make decisions based on conditions on the ground. In that sense many have interpreted the strategy Trump unveiled on August 21 as a hand-washing exercise since the beleaguered President's generals will shoulder the blame if anything goes wrong.
It is also coupled, as Secretary of State Rex Tillerson mentioned in a press briefing on August 22, with ‘conditions-based’ diplomacy to put pressure both on the Afghan government to step up its fight against corruption and bad governance, and on Pakistan to stop sheltering terrorist groups.
The rules of engagement according to the strategy are not different from that of Obama’s strategy for U.S. troops in Afghanistan post-2014, namely training, advising and assisting the Afghan forces, thereby minimising the risk of US casualties that could prove politically toxic back home.
Perhaps most notably, U.S. engagement will be driven by “principled realism” focused on fighting “terrorism” rather than “nation building” and democratization, Trump said.
This is broadly in line with a White House that prioritises economic virtues over political ones. In their first phone call after Trump took office, for instance, President Ashraf Ghani adjusted to the change in tone by attempting tried to pique the real estate mogul's interest in Afghanistan by talking up its vast mineral wealth.
Trump’s Strategy: Who Said What?
As expected, Afghanistan officials have broadly welcomed Trump's strategy, with Washington's criticism of neighbour Pakistan proving a particular cause for celebration.
Ghani said in a press conference on August 23, that the strategy secures the interests of “both Afghanistan and the U.S”. Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Abdullah Abdullah praised the strategy the day before as a renewal of the U.S. commitment to Afghanistan and the Afghan people.
The strategy was also hailed by former officials.
Rahmatullah Nabil, who served as an intelligence chief under ex-President Hamid Karzai commended the strategy in a tweet:
