Trump lays out Afghanistan strategy: 'We are not nation-building again'

Donald Trump.
(Image credit: Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images)

In a televised address, President Trump on Monday shared his strategy for Afghanistan and South Asia, saying the United States military is "not nation-building again. We are killing terrorists."

Speaking in front of an audience of soldiers at Ft. Myer, Virginia, Trump said the American people are "weary of war without victory," and he "shares their frustration." When it comes to Afghanistan, while his original instinct was to pull all troops out, he listened to his advisers and came up with a new strategy, Trump said, but will never reveal the number of troops on the ground in the country or announce upcoming military actions. Trump is also expanding authority for American armed forces to "target terrorists and criminal networks that sow violence and chaos throughout Afghanistan," he said.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.