Documents detail legal fight to make the Pentagon share Middle East troop numbers March 4 New documents show troop levels in Syria over the past four years, which the Defense Department had been reluctant to disclose. (Spc. Sidney Perry/Army) While ending the “forever wars” in Iraq and Afghanistan was a cornerstone of the Trump administration’s foreign policy, it became increasingly difficult during his presidency for the public to get numbers of troops on the ground in those countries, as well as Syria. That was part of a concerted policy effort, according to documents obtained by the online forum Just Security.
syria, afghanistan troop levels, the ban on transgender service members which i believe he announced via tweet. participation in nato, ending war games with south korea. pardons for alleged war crimes which we are talking about now. the president said i know more than the generals. we have seen it with the long list of situations where he basically contradicts his own experts, his own military leaders and says i m the military commander in chief. without following the briefing he gets from leaders saying i m going with my gut on everything from whether we should pull troops from syria to whether we should keep troops in afghanistan. josh and i were at mar-a-lago when the president had phone calls with the military leaders. he spent time saying, i know what we should be doing when it comes to buying ships for the military. you can expect that again where the president will be politic e politicizing the phone call. the president was on the phone with the military leaders
there will be a tight time line. he wants this done quickly to correct things so this will not happen again. bill neely, thanks very much. bill neely from seoul, south korea. tonight president trump is going to unveil his afghanistan strategy first prime time address to the nation in the speech to congress after the inauguration. when asked about any troop increase over the weekend, secretary of defense mattis had this to say. i was not willing to make significant troop lifts until we knew what was the strategy, what was the commitment going in. once he announces what the strategy is, we can get more precise on afghanistan troop levels. now, to understand the choices that mattis or the president face, let s look at historical perspective of the country. british fought three wars in the 19th century achieving very limited success in afghanistan. in 1979, that s the date most
i want to with him med hi hassan. he s a host there. and retired army four star general barry mccaffrey. gentlemen, hang on. i want to get to you both in a moment, but first i want to just lay the groundwork here for what we re talking about. tonight will be president trump s first address to the nation since he became president, really, since the inauguration. when asked about any troop increase over the weekend, here is what defense secretary mattis had to say. i was not willing to make significant troop lifts until we certainly knew what was the strategy, what was the commitment going in. once he announces what the strategy is, we can get more precise on afghanistan troop levels. now, to understand the choices that the president faces, let s get a historical perspective of afghanistan. let s break it into five distinct eras. starting with pre1979.
mccain. we obviously have an investigation under way. that will determine what happened. the big question here for the 7th fleet is what is going on here with these ships. how on earth did this happen to one of the world s most sophisticated warships. after months of deliberation, the president will address the nation on the path to afghanistan, the longest war in its 16th year. once he announces what the strategy is, we can get more precise on afghanistan troop levels. the decision according to senior u.s. officials expected to include the addition of as many as 4,000 u.s. troops. it may be the most anticipated solar event in history. the day of the solar eclipse is here. a traffic jam of epic proportions with millions rushing to get the best view. some people paying upwards of $1500 to glamp out here. this stadium is going to fill up with 15,000 people. in just a few hours when totality hits the oregon coast before racing across the country to charleston, south