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Donald Trump May Escalate the Afghanistan War He Spent Years Calling a “Terrible Mistake”

It's "time to get out," Trump tweeted repeatedly before he became president.

US Marines salute during a handover ceremony at Leatherneck Camp in Lashkar Gah in the Afghan province of Helmand on April 29, 2017.US Marines returned to Afghanistan's volatile Helmand April 29, where American troops faced heated fighting until NATO's combat mission ended in 2014, as embattled Afghan security forces struggle to beat back the resurgent Taliban. The deployment of some 300 Marines to the poppy-growing southern province came one day after the militants announced the launch of their "spring offensive", and as the Trump administration seeks to craft a new strategy in Afghanistan. / AFP PHOTO / WAKIL KOHSAR (Photo credit should read WAKIL KOHSAR/AFP/Getty Images)
US Marines salute during a handover ceremony at Leatherneck Camp in Lashkar Gah in the Afghan province of Helmand on April 29, 2017. Photo: Wakil Kohsar/AFP/Getty Images

The Trump administration is reportedly weighing a proposal to send thousands of more troops to Afghanistan, an escalation of the longest war in U.S. history.

This would be a significant about-face from Trump’s public position in the years prior to his presidency. In 2015 he declared that invading Afghanistan in the first place was a “terrible mistake” and the current situation was “a mess,” although he added that “I would leave the troops there begrudgingly” because “that thing will collapse in about two seconds after they leave.”

Before running for president, Trump repeatedly tweeted about the need to end the war, referring to it as a waste of blood and treasure.

The tweet below links to a Fox and Friends interview where Trump denounces the war: “What are we doing there? These people hate us. As soon as we leave, it’s all going to blow up anyway. And you say, ‘What are we doing there?’ We’re spending hundreds of billions of dollars, trillions of dollars on this nonsense.”

Trump’s change of opinion may be spurred by counsel from his National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster. Bloomberg’s Eli Lake reports that McMaster has been the voice inside the administration in favor of escalation.

Top photo: U.S. Marines salute during a handover ceremony at Leatherneck Camp in Lashkar Gah in the Afghan province of Helmand on April 29, 2017.

IT’S EVEN WORSE THAN WE THOUGHT.

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IT’S BEEN A DEVASTATING year for journalism — the worst in modern U.S. history.

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I’M BEN MUESSIG, The Intercept’s editor-in-chief. It’s been a devastating year for journalism — the worst in modern U.S. history.

We have a president with utter contempt for truth aggressively using the government’s full powers to dismantle the free press. Corporate news outlets have cowered, becoming accessories in Trump’s project to create a post-truth America. Right-wing billionaires have pounced, buying up media organizations and rebuilding the information environment to their liking.

In this most perilous moment for democracy, The Intercept is fighting back. But to do so effectively, we need to grow.

That’s where you come in. Will you help us expand our reporting capacity in time to hit the ground running in 2026?

We’re independent of corporate interests. Will you help us?

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Contact the author:

zaid.jilani@theintercept.com @ZaidJilani on X

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