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Addressing the country in a nationally televised speech Monday night, President Donald Trump described his commitment to continuing the 16-year-long war in Afghanistan, but did not say how many more troops might be heading to the region. The address, delivered to troops at Fort Myer in Virginia, laid out the Trump administration's revised strategy for the war in Afghanistan. During his campaign, Trump frequently criticized US involvement overseas, including in Afghanistan. In 2013, he tweeted in favor of a "speedy withdrawal."

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!

Acknowledging his history of criticizing the US military presence there, Trump said Monday that he had changed his mind after discussions with defense advisers.

"My original instinct was to pull out, and historically I like following my instincts," Trump said. "But all my life I have heard decisions are much different when you sit behind the desk in the Oval Office, in other words, when you are president of the United States." A hasty departure of American troops from Afghanistan would create a power vacuum that would foster the spread of terrorist groups in the region, Trump said. He hinted that the US would increase its presence in the war-torn country, and urge NATO allies to do the same. But he did not give specifics about how many additional troops the US plans to send under his new policy. "We will not talk about numbers of troops or plans for other military activities," he said. Right-wing supporters did not appear to be on board. Breitbart News called it a flip-flop, and other pro-Trump media figures bemoaned the president's departure from the nationalist message he promoted during his presidential campaign.



In the meantime, Republican defense hawks including Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham praised the president's speech.

Between Afghanistan and Syria @realDonaldTrump is showing the WILL to stand up to Radical Islam... ....unlike President Obama.