For years, Donald Trump repeatedly called for a total withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, calling military operations there a waste of money and lives. But now, as president, Trump will use his first primetime address to the nation on Monday to announce a new strategy in Afghanistan.

According to multiple reports, Trump will tell the country that he plans to send thousands of additional troops to the country. If those reports prove accurate, Trump will be pursuing a strategy that breaks sharply from his public statements dating back more than six years.

When will we stop wasting our money on rebuilding Afghanistan? We must rebuild our country first. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 7, 2011

It is time to get out of Afghanistan. We are building roads and schools for people that hate us. It is not in our national interests. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 27, 2012

China is getting minerals from Afghanistan http://t.co/uNxQYQWi We are getting our troops killed by the Afghani govt't. Time to get out. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 29, 2012

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! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 21, 2012

84% of US troops wounded & 70% of our brave men & women killed in Afghanistan have all come under Obama. Time to get out of there. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 11, 2012

Karzai of Afghanistan is not sticking with our signed agreement. They are dropping us like dopes. Get out now and re-build U.S.! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 6, 2012

Let’s get out of Afghanistan. Our troops are being killed by the Afghanis we train and we waste billions there. Nonsense! Rebuild the USA. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 11, 2013

I agree with Pres. Obama on Afghanistan. We should have a speedy withdrawal. Why should we keep wasting our money — rebuild the U.S.! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 14, 2013

We should leave Afghanistan immediately. No more wasted lives. If we have to go back in, we go in hard & quick. Rebuild the US first. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 1, 2013

Trump did not spend much time during the campaign discussing Afghanistan, instead continuing to stress the importance of addressing domestic problems. “Places like Afghanistan are safer than some of our inner cities,” Trump said during a campaign rally in September 2016.


In October 2015, Trump said that the initial decision to invade Afghanistan after 9/11 was a “terrible mistake.” He allowed, however, that U.S. troops should stay there for the time being. “I would leave the troops there begrudgingly believe me I’m not happy about it,” Trump said. He did not mention a troop surge. (A few days later, a campaign aide tried to claim he was referring to the Iraq war as a mistake, an interpretation that is not supported by the transcript.)

Trump’s policy in Afghanistan thus far has been amorphous, even as fighting has grown more deadly and ISIS has made inroads. In April, the military dropped what’s known as a MOAB (Mother of All Bombs) which, according to the administration, targeted a network of tunnels used by ISIS.

Steve Bannon, Trump’s chief strategist who left the White House last week, had been pushing to replace the roughly 9,000 U.S. troops currently in Afghanistan with private mercenaries.

CORRECTION: This piece previously said that the military dropped a MOAB in September. It has been updated to reflect that it was actually dropped in April.