MILITARY/NATIONAL SECURITY/TRUMP PEOPLE/MCMASTER: “A few days after President Donald Trump gave his Pentagon chief the unilateral authority last month to send thousands of American troops to Afghanistan at his own discretion, the White House sent classified guidance that effectively limits the number of forces.
The memo, sent by national security adviser Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster to a small group of administration officials, said that the president would let Defense Secretary Jim Mattis send no more than 3,900 troops to Afghanistan without coming back to confer with the White House, according to people familiar with the document.
The conflicting messages reflect divisions that have surfaced in the Trump administration as it tries to develop a comprehensive new strategy for Afghanistan, amid concerns about diving deeper into a 16-year-old conflict that has claimed more than 2,400 American lives and cost the U.S. $2.4 trillion.”
-Dion Nissenbaum, “White House Limits Pentagon on Afghan Troop Level,” The Wall Street Journal online, July 6, 2017 03:53pm