U.S Defense Secretary James Mattis said in a statement late Wednesday that the U.S will not repeat the mistakes of the past and in setting new troop levels, its military will have greater agility in conducting operations in Afghanistan.
“This administration will not repeat the mistakes of the past. We cannot allow Afghanistan to once again become a launching point for attacks on our homeland or on our allies,” he said.
His statement come after Trump gave Mattis the authority to set troop levels in Afghanistan, opening the door for future troop increases.
“Yesterday afternoon (Tuesday), the president directed the Department of Defense to set troop levels in Afghanistan. This will enable our military to have greater agility to conduct operations, recognizing our military posture there is part of a broader regional context,” the statement said.
He said that thanks to the vigilance and skill of the U.S military its allies and partners, horrors on the scale of Sept. 11, 2001, have not been repeated.
“However, the danger continues to evolve and that danger requires a commitment to defeat terrorist organizations that threaten the United States, other nations, and the people of Afghanistan. For example, ISIS (Daesh) has established a branch in Khorasan Province (Nangarhar, Afghanistan), al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups remain active inside Afghanistan, and the Taliban continue to pose a challenge to the democratically elected government.
Read the full story at TOLOnews