AFGHANISTAN/FOREIGN POLICY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “US President Donald Trump’s first State of the Union touched on a number of international issues, including North Korea and the battle to defeat ISIS, but he didn’t offer any specifics and barely mentioned Russia or China… Here’s what he did include:
Afghanistan
Amid a deteriorating security situation on the ground, particularly in the capital Kabul, Trump indicated that the US’ longest-running overseas conflict will continue, with US troops able to operate under “new rules of engagement.”
‘Our warriors in Afghanistan also have new rules of engagement,’ Trump said to the joint session of Congress — although these were not spelled out.
‘Along with their heroic Afghan partners, our military is no longer undermined by artificial timelines, and we no longer tell our enemies our plans.’
Neighboring Pakistan, a key US partner and a decisive player in Afghanistan, did not merit a mention in Tuesday’s address.
Earlier in January, the Trump administration said that it would withhold $255 million in aid to Pakistan, based on a perception that the country was harboring terrorists.”
-Euan McKirdy, “What Trump said about ISIS, Iran and North Korea in his State of the Union speech,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, Jan. 31, 2018 03:51am