Afghan president 'grateful' for Trump's commitment

Afghan leader Ashraf Ghani on Tuesday welcomed US President Donald Trump's new strategy for the war in Afghanistan, which would remove timelines for withdrawal of remaining foreign troops, The US News reported.

"I am grateful to President Trump and the American people for this affirmation of support ... for our joint struggle to rid the region from the threat of terrorism," Ghani said in a statement.

Ghani said the new strategy would increase the capacity of the training mission for Afghan national security forces, including enhancing its fledgling air force and doubling the size of the Afghan special forces.

Trump pilloried US ally Pakistan for offering safe haven to "agents of chaos". He discarded his previous criticism of the 16-year-old war as a waste of time and money, admitting things looked different from "behind the desk in the Oval Office".

"My instinct was to pull out," Trump said as he spoke of his frustration with a war that has killed thousands of US troops and cost US taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars.

But following months of deliberation, Trump said he had concluded "the consequences of a rapid exit are both predictable and unacceptable" -- a vacuum which terrorists "would instantly fill".

While Trump refused to offer detailed troop numbers, senior White House officials said he had already authorized his defense secretary to deploy up to 3,900 more troops to Afghanistan.

Source: MENA