HAGERSTOWN: US President Donald Trump assembled his national security team at the Camp David presidential retreat Friday to forge a way ahead in Afghanistan, almost 16 years after the war began. The White House released a statement Friday afternoon saying Trump had been briefed by his national security team on “a new strategy to protect America’s interests in South Asia” — indicating that no decision had yet been reached. In an early move to address the situation, Trump gave Mattis broad powers to set troop numbers in Afghanistan and elsewhere. But several months later, the level remains stuck at about 8,400 US and about 5,000 NATO troops. McMaster, chief of staff John Kelly, and other members of the National Security Council including Dunford, who is traveling and tuned in via videoconference.

Source: Manila Times August 18, 2017 23:26 UTC