Speaking to Fox News on Sunday, Rex Tillerson said the US will shift its diplomatic and development programs to coincide with Trump’s views of a military approach.
US Military strategy in Afghanistan to change
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US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, told Fox News on Sunday night that President Donald Trump’s new strategy on Afghanistan clearly states the US is not undertaking nation building and that there needs to be reconciliation between all ethnic groups, including the Taliban.
Tillerson told Fox News: “I think the president (Trump) has been clear in his speech on Afghanistan that we are not undertaking nation building.
“So we will be shifting our diplomatic and aid and development programs as well to coincide with the president’s view that the Afghan government and the Afghan people must own their form of government and they must come to some reconciliation with all ethnic groups, including the Taliban, as to how they can secure their country as a peaceful country, one that does not support terrorism, does not provide safe haven for terrorists, and does not align itself with any terrorist organizations or countries that do. That’s what winning looks like,” he said.
He said the new plan was a dramatic shift in terms of the military strategy and that it will be based completely on the conditions on the ground.
Tillerson said: “We’re shifting from a time-based military strategy that had very clear troop ceiling levels to now, as he (Trump) indicated, a conditions-based strategy, which means it will be dictated by conditions on the ground informed by battlefield commanders.”
Tillerson went on to say that Trump had also delegated significant authority to US Secretary of Defense James Mattis to set troop levels but has also delegated more authority to military commanders in the field in the hope of turning the tide against the Taliban.
“I think we all recognize that for the past couple of years the Taliban has been advancing and Afghan forces have been unable to push them back. So there will be a definite change in military tactics on the ground,” he said.
