For most of Afghanistan war, U.S. ‘never really fought to win’ Trump declares- Washington Post

In a statement given by the U.S. president on Monday, declared that the United States “never really fought to win” in Afghanistan. Trump’s statement is a blunt humiliation of the American military efforts there.

The NYT reported Trump saying that “The Taliban is mixed about even wanting us out. They make a fortune $$$ out of having us stay, and except at the beginning we never really fought to win.”

The war that started in the wake of the 9/11 attacks drew the deployment of thousands of American troops. More than 2,300 of these have died. The statement comes at a time when American troops are retrenching back by sealing a U.S.-Taliban peace deal. The troop’s number has been brought down to 8,600 fulfilling the terms of the peace deal.

Many in the White House pointed out that Trump’s declaration is uncharacteristic of a commander in chief. More often than not Trump has out rightly “spoken about his desire to end the war since he was a presidential candidate, has repeatedly expressed frustration about the conflict and the resources it has involved.”

Meanwhile, the Taliban has ramped up attacks in Afghanistan that have resulted in a surge of Afghan casualties. The report further, underlines, “U.S. military officials have said that even if a peace deal can be reached, a significant counterterrorism threat will remain given the presence of al-Qaeda and Islamic State militants.”

Link to the original article-

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/for-most-of-afghanistan-war-america-never-really-fought-to-win-trump-declares/2020/05/18/9ab85afa-992c-11ea-b60c-3be060a4f8e1_story.html