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Mattis: White House Will Deliver New Afghanistan Strategy to Congress Next Month

Defense secretary says U.S. is 'not winning' the 16-year war

Secretary of Defense James Mattis
Secretary of Defense James Mattis / Getty Images
June 13, 2017

The White House will submit an updated Afghanistan strategy proposal to Congress by mid-July laying out U.S. military tactics in the region, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Tuesday.

Mattis offered the new deadline after facing sharp criticism from Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R., Ariz.) over the Trump administration's failure to deliver a new strategy to lawmakers outlining the future of America's longstanding presence in the country.

"It makes it hard to support you when we don't have a strategy," McCain said at a committee hearing discussing the Pentagon's 2018 budget request. "We know what the strategy was for the past eight years: Don't lose. That hasn't worked. We just lost three brave Americans. When can we expect the Congress of the United States to get a strategy for Afghanistan that is a departure from the last eight years?"

Mattis said he expects to offer an updated plan to the committee next month.

"We're putting it together now and there are actions being taken to make certain that we don't pay a price for the delay, but we recognize the need for urgency and your criticism is fair, sir," he testified.

The White House since March has been weighing the deployment of 3,000 to 5,000 more troops to Afghanistan. The additional forces would contribute to mounting advise and assist operations with local military forces who are combatting the Taliban.

The United States and NATO currently have nearly 13,500 troops on the ground, with American forces contributing roughly 8,500 military personnel. Gen. John Nicholson, the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, told lawmakers in February that he needed a surge of a "few thousand" troops to break an impasse in the U.S.-led mission.

Mattis doubled down on assessments that the war is at a stalemate, telling lawmakers the United States is "not winning in Afghanistan."

His testimony arrived one day after the Pentagon identified three American soldiers who were killed by an Afghan soldier in the country's eastern region on Saturday. The deaths of Sgt. Eric M. Houck, 25; Sgt. William M. Bays, 29; and Corporal Dillon C. Baldridge, 22, brought the total number of U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan this year to six.

McCain said their deaths should spur a sense of urgency within the Trump administration.

"Let's not ask families to sacrifice any further without a strategy," he said. "I'm fighting as hard as I can to increase defense spending. It's hard when we have no strategy to pursue, so I hope you understand the dilemma you are presenting to us."