President Donald Trump's speech Monday on the path forward for the U.S. in Afghanistan received praise from military analysts and top Republican politicians for not abandoning the mission there and not setting military strategy through timetables.
Trump, who had spoken out against U.S. involvement in Afghanistan as a candidate, did not lay out specifics regarding troop increases or dates, saying his strategy would not be as constrained or telegraphed as prior administrations.
Fox News anchor Bret Baier said service members contacted him and said, "This is the speech that they wanted to hear. The power, the resolve, the pride, the courage, and the commitment to let them do their job."
Retired Brig. Gen. Anthony Tata praised Trump's appreciative comments toward military service members at the outset of his speech, and retired Gen. Jack Keane praised Trump for speaking "honestly" to the troops and the American people about his thinking.
Retired Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling said on CNN there were parts he wholeheartedly agreed with, like Trump's statement that the U.S. would shift from a time-based to a conditions-based policy.
"That's something that I think most of my colleagues, most military professionals would say we should have done in the past," Hertling said. "It was one thing that stuck in many of our craws about saying we would reduce the number of forces at this time. All of us ... said that would give the enemy an advantage."
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.), one of Trump's more frequent critics among GOP lawmakers, applauded Trump for making a "national security decision, not a political decision," calling it an "inspiring speech."
"I'm proud of the fact that he listened to the generals and most proud of the fact that he showed the will to stand up to radical Islam," Graham said. "I'm relieved he did not take the advice to withdraw, which would have been disastrous."
House Speaker Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) also said he was pleased with how Trump went about making his decision to form a "comprehensive strategy." Ryan said that for 16 years, the U.S. policy in Afghanistan had been "16 one-year strategies" and it was high time to have a comprehensive one.
"I think it's important when it comes to our blood and our treasure and our soldiers and our safety that we actually have a comprehensive doctrine that we apply, and I think he spent the last six months working on that, and I think you just heard a big flavor of it tonight," Ryan said.
MSNBC host Joe Scarborough said that even if one disagreed with the policy, "it was a reasoned, thoughtful process that our national security team walked through."
"It's been one of the most detailed, most through processes that we've seen this White House go through," Associated Press reporter Julie Pace said.