More US troops for Afghanistan

President Donald Trump committed US troops to an open-ended war in Afghanistan, a decision the Afghan government welcomed yesterday but which Taliban insurgents warned would make the country a "graveyard for the American empire".

Trump offered few specifics in a speech on Monday but promised a stepped-up military campaign against the Taliban who have gained ground against US-backed Afghan government forces. He also singled out Pakistan for harbouring militants in safe havens on its soil, an accusation it denies.

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While Trump said he would not discuss troop levels or details of the new strategy, US officials said on Monday he had signed off on Defense Secretary James Mattis' plans to send about 4,000 more troops to Afghanistan.

Trump said "my original instinct was to pull out" all American troops but he was convinced by his military advisers after a lengthy review of the United States' longest war.

"The consequences of a rapid exit are both predictable and unacceptable," he said. "A hasty withdrawal would create a vacuum that terrorists, including ISIS and al Qaeda, would instantly fill."

While Trump said "our troops will fight to win", he also stressed that ultimately Afghanistan's police and army must to most of the fighting to defeat the Taliban and allied Islamist militants.

"The stronger the Afghan security forces become, the less we will have to do. ... We want them to succeed."

Most of the approximately 8,400 US troops in Afghanistan work with a Nato-led training and advising mission, with the rest part of a counter-terrorism force that mostly targets pockets of al Qaeda and Islamic State fighters, reported Reuters.

NO TIMELINES

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani welcomed the strategy saying it would expand the training mission for Afghan forces, which includes building its fledgling air force and doubling the size of the Afghan special forces.

"I am grateful to President Trump and the American people for this affirmation of support ... for our joint struggle to rid the region from the threat of terrorism," Ghani said in a statement.

The Taliban swiftly condemned Trump's decision.

"If the US does not pull all its forces out of Afghanistan, we will make this country the 21st century graveyard for the American empire," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement.

US-backed Afghan forces overthrew the Taliban's hard-line Islamist government in late 2001 over its sheltering of al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, architect of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in US cities that killed nearly 2,000 people.

But US forces have been bogged down ever since in a war that has vexed three presidents. About 2,400 U.S. troops have died in Afghanistan.

Trump, who had criticized his predecessor for setting deadlines for drawing down troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, declined to put a timeline on expanded US operations in Afghanistan.

NO BLANK CHECK

Trump warned on Monday that US support "is not a blank check" for Afghanistan's often-divided and corruption-plagued government and insisted he would not engage in "nation-building," a practice he has accused his predecessors of doing at huge cost.

Trump insisted in his speech that the Afghan government, Pakistan, India, and Nato allies step up their own commitment to resolving the 16-year conflict.

"We can no longer be silent about Pakistan's safe havens," he said, referring to complaints that Taliban and other militants move freely in Pakistan.

Pakistan yesterday called for peace in neighbouring Afghanistan and pledged to work to eliminate terrorism after a blistering statement by Trump accusing it of supporting "agents of chaos".

The carefully worded statement from the Foreign Office called for "peace and stability in Afghanistan". It also "underlined Pakistan's continued desire to work with the International Community to eliminate the menace of terrorism."

Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the United Nations, told CNN that Trump's strategy for Afghanistan included decisions that “are very different from anything that's happened before.”

India welcomed Trump's plan to increase US engagement in Afghanistan yesterday, saying it shares Washington's concerns about a safe haven for terrorists in its backyard, reported AFP.

"We welcome President Trump's determination to enhance efforts to overcome the challenges facing Afghanistan and confronting issues of safe havens and other forms of cross-border support enjoyed by terrorists," the Indian foreign ministry said in a statement.

Trump's speech came after a months-long review of US policy in which the president frequently tangled with his top advisers.

Among the options were a complete withdrawal, a modest troop increase, keeping the status quo or a small reduction to focus only on counter-terrorism and not training Afghan forces.