WASHINGTON \u2013 Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis clarified on Friday that while DOD is setting troop numbers for Afghanistan, President Donald Trump is still setting the strategy that will drive those numbers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat he delegated was a tactical decision about what forces to send,\u201d Mattis said of Trump. \u201cHe delegated not one bit of the strategy by the way. Not one bit. That is his and his alone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There\u2019s still no strategy, although both the White House and Pentagon have said one is coming soon. However the lack of an overall strategy has not kept Mattis from making tactical adjustments that support a more aggressive approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve changed what we\u2019re doing,\u201d Mattis said. \u201cWe\u2019ve moved some [troops] out that we don\u2019t need and put different ones in. It\u2019s not like we\u2019ve just been stalled out here.\u201d
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For months Trump\u2019s security team has been meeting on how to change the course of the now 16-year-old war. As part of that effort, Trump, Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson have made multiple trips to NATO to solicit additional troops from member countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The lack of an announced strategy has had the trickle-down effect of stalling commitments from some NATO members who want to know what the plan is before they commit to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe know there will be some allies who are willing to send more troops \u2013 but again their troops are as precious to them as ours are to us,\u201d Mattis said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to get this thing right.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In June Trump delegated the authority to Mattis to set troop levels for Afghanistan, including increasing the current cap beyond the 8,400 U.S. troops now authorized.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Pentagon is considering sending approximately 4,000 additional forces to Afghanistan to stem the country\u2019s deteriorating security situation.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m going to figure it out before [making a decision]\u201d Mattis said. \u201cThe last thing I want to do is send troops in there and find I just sent troops in for something I just cancelled.\u201d
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tcopp@mco.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis clarified on Friday that while DOD is setting troop numbers for Afghanistan, President Donald Trump is still setting the strategy that will drive those numbers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":54928,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":12,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,8,12,26],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3342],"class_list":["post-26283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-flashpoints","category-news","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"MDAGFR5525CFDKNJSWCXC7KDZ4","arc_canonical_url":"\/2017\/07\/21\/mattis-authority-delegated-by-trump-in-afghanistan-is-tactical-not-strategic\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n