Trump: No timetable for Afghan troop withdrawal

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) – President Donald Trump announced Monday the U.S. would not commit to any timetable to end its military presence in Afghanistan where it has been bogged down for the better part of two decades.

“A core pillar of our new strategy is a shift from a time-based approach to one based on conditions,” Trump said at the Army’s Myer-Henderson Hall just outside Washington.

“We will not talk about numbers of troops, or our plans for further military activity. Conditions on the ground, not arbitrary timetables, will guide our strategy from now on,” he added.

The U.S. has about 8,400 troops in the country, and Trump's comments made it clear there would be no indications about future modifications to the American force posture.

Approximately 5,000 foreign military troops are in Afghanistan, but all save the Americans are devoted solely to a program to build up Afghan forces.

Trump met with top advisors Friday at the Camp David presidential retreat to discuss a path forward in America’s 16-year occupation of the South Asian country.

The commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, Gen. John W. Nicholson, had urged Trump to increase the footprint of U.S. forces there amid a stalemate between an insurgency and the central government.

The U.S. invaded Afghanistan in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, ousting the Taliban after it gave sanctuary to now deceased al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden.

But recent years have seen the Taliban and other extremist groups grow in strength as the U.S.-backed central government in Kabul struggles to assert its authority across the country it nominally controls.