Delaware senators offer tepid praise on Afghanistan strategy
President Donald Trump speaks at Fort Myer in Arlington Va., Monday, Aug. 21, 2017, during a Presidential Address to the Nation about a strategy he believes will best position the U.S. to eventually declare victory in Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Delaware’s senators offered tepid praise for President Donald Trump’s strategy for Afghanistan and South Asia.
Sens. Tom Carper and Chris Coons, both Democrats, said in statements Tuesday that Trump raised more questions than he answered about a path forward in the 16-year-old war in Afghanistan.
Carper says he agrees with Trump on shifting strategy away from a time-based approach to a strategy based on conditions on the ground. But he expressed concern that the president indicated that the U.S. is not in Afghanistan to nation-build but “simply to kill terrorists.”
Coons says Trump’s speech Monday night a few clear changes in strategy, such as preventing terrorist groups from retaking control of Afghanistan. But the senator wonders how the U.S. will approach expanding Russian and Iranian influence in Afghanistan.
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