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U.S. President Donald Trump made a primetime address last night. It was his first one of those since the address he gave to a joint session of Congress in February. The focus: his administration's strategy concerning U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan.
The war there began in 2001 under U.S. President George W. Bush. At that time, Afghanistan was controlled by a militant group called the Taliban.
They refused a U.S. demand to hand over the terrorist responsible for the September 11th attacks against America. So, an international coalition, a group of countries led by the U.S. launched attacks on Taliban and terrorist targets.
The conflict continued into the presidency of Barack Obama. He initially promised a temporary surge, an increase in a number of U.S. troops there, as well as an end to the war by 2014. But two years after that, at the end of Mr. Obama's presidency, more than 8,000 American troops were still there and the Taliban remained a powerful force in the South Asian country.
Like his predecessor, Donald Trump initially criticized U.S. involvement in Afghanistan as expensive. And leading up to his presidential run, Mr. Trump said it wasn't in America's national interest. But after becoming president and discussing Afghanistan with his military advisors, Mr. Trump said that he took over a mess and was going to make it, quote, a lot less messy. He used his address last night to explain his strategy for how to do that.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A core pillar of our new strategy is a shift from a time-based approach to one based on conditions.
I've said it many times how counterproductive it is for the United States to announce in advance the dates we intend to begin or end military options.
We will not talk about numbers of troops or our plans for further military activities. Conditions on the ground, not arbitrary timetables, will guide our strategy from now on. America's enemies must never know our plans, or believe they can wait us out. I will not say when we are going to attack, but attack we will.
