Trump vowed the Washington will “always” maintain a presence in the war-torn country, which he continued to maintain is the “Harvard University for terror.”
There are currently 14,000 US forces in Afghanistan, but Trump has repeatedly pledged to extricate the America from the conflict there and has reiterated those vows ahead of the 2020 US presidential elections.
“WE’LL COME BACK WITH A FORCE LIKE THEY’VE NEVER SEEN BEFORE”
“We’re reducing that presence very substantially. And we’re going to always have a presence. We’re going to have high intelligence,” Trump said during an interview with Fox News Radio. “And I will put this word out, and I’ve already said it, but if they ever did anything from Afghanistan we will come back with a force like they’ve never seen before.”
Trump doubled down on his earlier comments saying he could end the 18-year war quickly through mass killings, but said he does not want to pursue that option. “We’re not fighting a war over there. We’re just policemen over there. We could win that war in so fast if I wanted to kill 10 million people,” Trump said before adding, “I’m not looking to kill a big portion of that country.”
Peace talks are ongoing between the US and the Taliban, and the Afghan government has said it will enter those discussions soon. Escalating violence has continued to mar Afghanistan amid the ongoing ninth marathon round of peace talks between the US and the Taliban in Doha, Qatar.