Washington (CNN) President Donald Trump continued to say Tuesday that the US is talking to the government of Afghanistan and the Taliban and he is "looking at different things" in the region.

Speaking at the White House, Trump lamented that US involvement in the country for 18 years, which he described as more of a "police force," is "ridiculous," and repeated a claim that the US "could win that war in a week if we wanted to" but that he does not "want to kill 10 million people, 10 million Afghans ... because that's what would have to happen and I'm not looking to do that."

Trump said the US is "bringing some of our troops back but we have to have a presence."

The area "does seem to be the Harvard University of terrorism," Trump said.

"We've been a peacekeeper there, in a way, for 19 years and at a certain point you have to say that's long enough," he said, describing visiting wounded veterans at Walter Reed military hospital who have served in Afghanistan.

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