Mattis says options on Afghanistan to be
presented to Trump 'very soon'
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[June 13, 2017]
By Idrees Ali
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Defense
Secretary Jim Mattis said on Monday he would present options on
Afghanistan to President Donald Trump "very soon," adding the strategy
would take a regional approach rather than looking at the war-torn
country in isolation.
The situation in Afghanistan, which U.S. military officials acknowledge
is in a stalemate almost 16 years since the war started, has
deteriorated in recent months.
A truck-bomb explosion in Kabul last month killed more than 150 people,
making it the deadliest attack in the Afghan capital since the ouster of
the Taliban in 2001.
In some cases, Afghan security forces have been forced to abandon more
scattered and rural bases, and the government can claim to control or
influence only 57 percent of the country, according to U.S. military
estimates earlier this year.
"We are taking a regional approach to this," Mattis told the House Armed
Services Committee. "We will take that forward to the president for a
decision very soon."
Mattis said a request by General John Nicholson, the head of U.S. and
international forces in Afghanistan, for additional troops would mostly
be made up of troops who would train, advise and assist Afghan forces,
potentially putting them with Afghan forces at the brigade level.
"It's a fundamental change to how we bring our, what I would call our
real superiority, in terms of air support," Mattis said.
At the same hearing, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joseph
Dunford said he had gone to Mattis and Trump with "some options that
might be considered" in order to help improve the security situation in
Afghanistan.
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U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis arrives before a House Armed
Services Committee hearing on the Pentagon's budget priorities on
Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., June 12, 2017. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas
Reuters reported in late April that Trump's administration was
carrying out a review of Afghanistan and conversations were
revolving around sending between 3,000 and 5,000 U.S. and coalition
troops there.
Deliberations include giving more authorities to forces on the
ground and taking more aggressive action against Taliban fighters.
Some U.S. officials questioned the benefit of sending more troops to
Afghanistan because any politically palatable number would not be
enough to turn the tide, much less create stability and security. To
date, more than 2,300 Americans have been killed and over 17,000
wounded.
On Saturday, three U.S. soldiers were killed when an Afghan soldier
opened fire on them in eastern Afghanistan.
(Reporting by Idrees Ali and Mike Stone; Editing by Peter Cooney and
Michael Perry)
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