Afghanistan and Its Neighbors

Seven months after taking office, President Donald Trump finally announced how his administration plans to fight the longest-running war in American history. “My original instinct was to pull out—and, historically, I like following my instincts,” Trump told the nation in a prime-time address outlining his strategy for Afghanistan. But after studying the situation—and weeks of dithering in the face of vicious infighting on the subject among his staff—he came to understand why withdrawal wasn't wise: “9/11, the worst terrorist attack in our history, was planned and directed from Afghanistan because that country was ruled by a government that gave comfort and shelter to terrorists.”The course he chose is little different from the status quo, with one exception: The president called out one of Afghanistan's neighbors for providing protection to those destabilizing the country. “We have been paying Pakistan billions and billions of dollars at the same time they are housing the very terrorists that we are fighting,” Trump noted. “No partnership can survive a country's harboring of militants and terrorists who target U.S. service members and officials.” It was a direct rebuke to his predecessor, Barack Obama, who declared in his Afghanistan strategy speech that “we are committed to a partnership with Pakistan that is built on a foundation of mutual interests, mutual respect, and mutual trust.” Obama didn't mention Pakistan's neighbor and rival, but Trump did; working more with India, he said, was a “critical part of the South Asia strategy.”