WASHINGTON — President Donald J. Trump will announce his decision on America’s strategy in Afghanistan in an address to US troops and the nation Monday night, almost 16 years after the war began.
The US leader will “provide an update on the path forward for America’s engagement in Afghanistan and South Asia” in an address to be delivered at 9 p.m. (0100 GMT Tuesday) from the military base at Fort Myer southwest of the capital, the White House said in a statement.
The US president, fresh from a nearly three-week-long working vacation at his New Jersey resort, was en route to the US capital late Sunday, and took a swipe at one of his customary Twitter targets — the news media.
“Heading back to Washington after working hard and watching some of the worst and most dishonest Fake News reporting I have ever seen!” he wrote.
Mr. Trump gathered top security officials Friday at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland to weigh his options in the grueling conflict, saying afterwards that “many decisions” had been made.
Wary of international involvements but eager for progress in the drawn-out Afghan war, the Trump administration had originally promised a new plan by mid-July. — AFP
