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Jump to: 2017; 2018; 2019;
-- 2015 --
October 20: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said Tuesday that although he believes the Iraq war was a mistake, he does not believe the war in Afghanistan falls into that same category -- apparently reversing his position on the war even as he continues to fault the George W. Bush administration's foreign policy.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/10/20/in-apparent-reversal-trump-says-afghanistan-war-was-not-a-mistake/?utm_term=.4211c718150e
-- 2017 --
April 14: [Trump] once said the invasion of Afghanistan was a mistake, though he later walked back that statement, saying he "always supported" US involvement in the country.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/14/asia/afghanistan-isis-moab-bomb/index.html
July 13: After Afghanistan’s all-girls robotics team was denied entry to the United States twice in two months, President Donald Trump has reportedly intervened in the case so the six girls and their chaperon can enter the U.S. to attend a competition next week.
http://fortune.com/2017/07/13/trump-afghanistan-girls-robot/
August 2: Trump Says U.S. ‘Losing’ Afghan War in Tense Meeting With Generals
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/trump-says-u-s-losing-afghan-war-tense-meeting-generals-n789006
August 21: When asked in [an] interview about his calling the U.S. military effort in Afghanistan a mistake Trump said, "I never said that. OK, wouldn't matter, I never said it. Afghanistan is a different kettle. Afghanistan is next to Pakistan, it's an entry in. You have to be careful with the nuclear weapons. It's all about the nuclear weapons. By the way, without the nukes, it's a whole different ballgame," Trump said in the Oct. 20, 2015
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-afghanistan-past/story?id=49334361
August 21: Trump announces new strategy for Afghanistan that calls for a troop increase
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-expected-to-announce-small-troop-increase-in-afghanistan-in-prime-time-address/2017/08/21/eb3a513e-868a-11e7-a94f-3139abce39f5_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.5b1c6efed07a
August 21: Trump's years of tweets calling for U.S. to leave Afghanistan ... Exactly 5 years ago, Trump tweeted: "Why are we continuing to train these Afghanis who then shoot our soldiers in the back? Afghanistan is a complete waste. Time to come home!"
https://www.axios.com/trumps-years-of-tweets-calling-for-us-to-leave-afghanistan-1513304975-e76e4aa5-d359-4423-9af0-8bff1ad67329.html
August 21: The America First president just announced he's escalating the Afghanistan war ... And Trump's Afghanistan plan looks a lot like Obama's.
https://www.vox.com/world/2017/8/21/15821886/trump-afghanistan-strategy-pakistan-august-21-2017
August 21: Trump vows US will keep fighting in Afghanistan
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/08/trump-vows-fighting-afghanistan-170822012709108.html
August 21: Trump’s Bold New Afghanistan Strategy: Neither Bold, Nor New, Nor a Strategy
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/08/trumps-bold-new-afghanistan-strategy-isnt-bold-nor-new.html
August 21: Trump’s Base Goes Ballistic Over His ‘Unlimited War’ ... The president has escalated fights in six countries. Now his supporters are wondering what happened to ‘America First.’
https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-s-base-bewails-unlimited-war-after-his-afghanistan-policy-speech
August 22: How Trump swallowed a bitter Afghanistan pill ... The president didn't want to send more troops into a 16-year-old conflict — until his military men convinced him the risks were too great.https://www.politico.com/story/2017/08/22/trump-afghanistan-generals-241886
August 22: Five key pieces of Trump's Afghanistan plan
https://www.cnn.com/2017/08/21/politics/trump-afghan-plan-five-things/index.html
August 26: Donald Trump’s speech on his administration’s strategy in Afghanistan — in which he announced the introduction of an unspecified number of new combat troops, without a mission and without a specified end date, in a strategy that abandoned nation building but entailed war-fighting — clearly contravened the principles of his “America First” isolationist election campaign promises.
https://www.salon.com/2017/08/26/afghanistan-is-now-officially-james-mattis-war_partner/
September 1: Trump’s Afghanistan Strategy Could Actually Work ... Critics might be surprised by its effectiveness.
http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/09/01/trumps-afghan-strategy-could-actually-work/
September 18: Trump's Surge in Afghanistan ... There is no end in sight to the U.S. war in Afghanistan, which, as it enters its 16th year, is the longest conflict in U.S. history.
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/afghanistan/2017-09-18/trumps-surge-afghanistan
September 30: It's been a little more than a month since President Trump announced a new strategy that involves sending more U.S. troops as advisers to the Afghan military.
https://www.npr.org/2017/09/30/554698389/an-update-on-trump-s-afghanistan-strategy
October 11: Trump’s New Strategy In Afghanistan? Drop More Bombs ... In September, the U.S. Air Force dropped 751 bombs, an increase of nearly 50 percent from the August figure of 503.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-strategy-afghanistan-bombings_us_59dde569e4b04fc4e1ea0c8b
October 24: In Afghanistan, Trump's grand strategy begins to fall apart ... The strands of Donald Trump's Afghan strategy are there for all to see, writes Rashmee Roshan Lall, but they are already showing signs of wear and tear
https://www.thenational.ae/opinion/comment/in-afghanistan-trump-s-grand-strategy-begins-to-fall-apart-1.669827
November 1: Trump has tripled the pace of US bombing in Afghanistan ... Trump was skeptical of the Afghanistan War. Now he’s escalating it.
https://www.vox.com/world/2017/11/21/16684628/trump-afghanistan-bomb-troops
November 17: Trump's Afghanistan Troop Surge is Complete, Raising Total Number of U.S. Servicemen to 14,000
http://www.newsweek.com/trumps-afghanistan-troop-surge-complete-raising-total-number-us-servicemen-714588
November 24: President Donald Trump said Friday he wished the U.S. had never gotten involved in the Middle East in the first place as he announced an upcoming call with the Turkish president to discuss the latest developments in the region.
http://www.newsweek.com/trump-regrets-us-wars-middle-east-what-mistake-721558
December 1: New air campaign in Afghanistan is test for Trump strategy in America's longest war
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/12/01/new-air-campaign-afghanistan-test-trump-strategy-america-longest-war/913611001/
December 12: US general on Trump's Afghanistan strategy: 'This will be a very long winter for the Taliban'
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/us-general-on-trumps-afghanistan-strategy-this-will-be-a-very-long-winter-for-the-taliban/article/2643252
-- 2018 --
January 2: 1 US soldier killed, 4 wounded in Afghanistan as Trump prepares to deploy thousands of more troops
http://www.businessinsider.com/1-us-soldier-killed-in-afghanistan-as-trump-deploys-more-troops-2018-1
January 9: Pakistan struggles while Afghanistan celebrates Trump’s cuts ... Polarisation over sanctuary for the Taliban adds to Islamabad’s political turmoil
President Donald Trump kicked off a fire storm across Pakistan when he suspended an estimated $2bn in security aid to Islamabad after accusing it of continuing to give sanctuary to the Afghan Taliban, despite months of warnings that the US is losing patience.
https://www.ft.com/content/8d2c16d6-f467-11e7-88f7-5465a6ce1a00
January 16: Afghan province awards Trump bravery medal after tough talk on Pakistan
https://www.stripes.com/news/afghan-province-awards-trump-bravery-medal-after-tough-talk-on-pakistan-1.506902
January 29: Trump rejects peace talks with Taliban in departure from Afghan strategy
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-afghanistan-blast-trump/trump-rejects-peace-talks-with-taliban-in-departure-from-afghan-strategy-idUSKBN1FI2BU
January 29: Trump just contradicted his own Afghanistan strategy
https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/8xvzxg/trump-taliban-afghanistan-strategy
February 6: Trump and Turnbull have little cause for satisfaction over progress in Afghanistan
https://theconversation.com/trump-and-turnbull-have-little-cause-for-satisfaction-over-progress-in-afghanistan-90918
February 9: Afghanistan: In midwinter attacks, a brutal Pakistani reply to Trump ... The military-grade explosives used in recent Taliban and ISIS attacks in Afghanistan point to a state sponsor, likely Pakistan, analysts say, adding that Pakistan has a range of options in how it replies to recent US pressure.
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2018/0209/Afghanistan-In-midwinter-attacks-a-brutal-Pakistani-reply-to-Trump
February 9: Congress, Trump give Pentagon a budget the likes of which it has never seen ...
The U.S. has far fewer troops in Iraq than it did 10 years ago, and the roughly 15,000 in Afghanistan today compare with a peak of 100,000 in 2010-11, but the trend is leaning in the opposite direction under President Donald Trump, including stepped up counterterrorism operations in Somalia and Yemen.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/ct-pentagon-budget-windfall-20180209-story.html
February 11: Donald Trump's Afghanistan strategy will lead to 'perpetual war,' Pakistani official warns
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/02/11/donald-trumps-afghanistan-strategy-will-lead-perpetual-war-pakistani/
February 14: Taliban urges Americans to pressure Trump and Congress to pull troops from Afghanistan ... Donald Trump recently rejected dialogue with the Taliban, saying 'we don't want to talk'
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/taliban-us-donald-trump-congress-troops-afghanistan-soldiers-war-a8211081.html
February 15: Why Trump’s Troubling Pakistan Policy Dooms Afghanistan Peace ... The administration’s approach to Islamabad undermines potential solutions in Afghanistan.
https://thediplomat.com/2018/02/why-trumps-troubling-pakistan-policy-dooms-afghanistan-peace/
February 15: Pakistan asks Trump to help fund border fence with Afghanistan ... t tells US president the 1,800-mile barrier will help end the Afghan war and reduce terrorism
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/feb/15/pakistan-asks-trump-to-help-fund-border-fence-with-afghanistan
February 16: Pentagon watchdog reports little progress in Afghanistan despite Trump administration’s new approach
https://www.washingtonpost.com/
February 16: DoD IG: Too soon to tell if Trump’s South Asia strategy will break the Taliban
https://www.militarytimes.com/flashpoints/2018/02/16/dod-ig-too-soon-to-tell-if-trumps-south-asia-strategy-will-break-the-taliban/
August 2: Donald Trump is doing better on Afghanistan than his predecessor
That’s not setting the bar very high
https://www.economist.com/united-states/2018/08/02/donald-trump-is-doing-better-on-afghanistan-than-his-predecessor
August 17: Officials worry Trump may back Erik Prince plan to privatize war in Afghanistan
"I know he's frustrated," Blackwater founder Prince said of the president. "He gave the Pentagon what they wanted. And they haven't delivered."
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/military/officials-worry-trump-may-back-erik-prince-plan-privatize-war-n901401?cid=sm_npd_ms_tw_ma
August 21: What's Changed In Afghanistan Since President Trump Decided To Stay
https://www.npr.org/2018/08/21/640630527/whats-changed-in-afghanistan-since-president-trump-decided-to-stay
October 18: Retired general: If anyone can bring Afghanistan war to an end, it's Trump
https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/412054-afghanistan-veteran-says-trump-has-the-ability-to-end-the-conflict
October 22: The Taliban just took a shot at America’s top general in Afghanistan and barely missed, the latest sign the US is losing the war
https://www.businessinsider.com/taliban-attack-on-us-general-shows-trumps-afghanistan-strategy-failing-2018-10
November 20: Trump and Pakistani PM in War of Words Over Bin Laden, Afghanistan and Terrorism
The friction threatens to further worsen already fragile relations between Islamabad and Washington
https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/trump-and-pakistani-pm-in-war-of-words-over-bin-laden-afghanistan-and-terrorism-1.6662270
December 3: Last week, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said he had formed a 12-strong team to negotiate peace with the Taliban, but warned that implementation of any deal would take at least five years.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/12/trump-asks-pakistan-pm-afghan-peace-talks-minister-181203095950483.html
December 20: Trump Orders Big Troop Reduction in Afghanistan
About half of the 14,000 U.S. forces will return home in the coming weeks, the start of a total pullout that could take at least many months
https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-administration-is-considering-substantial-afghan-troop-drawdown-11545341452
December 21: Taliban greets Pentagon's withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan with cries of victory
"The 17-year long struggle and sacrifices of thousands of our people finally yielded fruit," said a senior commander in Helmand.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/taliban-greets-pentagon-s-withdrawal-troops-afghanistan-cries-victory-n950811
December 22: Trump's withdrawal from Afghanistan ignores a dangerous threat
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-46656172
-- 2019 --
January 31: US envoy defends Taliban peace talks, Trump says deal means Afghanistan withdrawal
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/us-envoy-afghanistan-defends-taliban-peace-talks-path/story?id=60751348
February 2: As U.S. Seeks To Withdraw Troops, What About Afghanistan's Women?
Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. special representative, told the New York Times the Taliban has agreed not to permit Afghanistan from becoming a home for international terrorists. Khalilzad did not mention any negotiations regarding the rights of women.
Under the Taliban, women couldn't leave their homes without a male relative. Women couldn't go to school or work. They couldn't speak in public. They couldn't be treated by a doctor. They could be beaten for reading a book.
If so much as an inch of a woman's flesh was exposed — like a flash of ankle beneath the burqa when they walked — they could be beaten. Many women were beaten, and raped, and stoned to death.
The constitution Afghanistan adopted in 2004 enshrines the rights of women, and today, 27 percent of the members of the Afghan parliament are women. But as many as two-thirds of school age women in Afghanistan may not be in school, because they live in areas where the Taliban is powerful.
Will the U.S. work for an agreement that will not only let U.S. troops declare victory over terrorism and go home, but also help Afghan women live free from the terror of oppression?
https://www.npr.org/2019/02/02/690857773/opinion-as-u-s-seeks-to-withdraw-troops-what-about-afghanistans-women
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