President Donald Trump said the U.S. will shift to an Afghanistan strategy based on "conditions" rather than timetables, adding Monday he would not talk about numbers of additional troops or specific military plans.
Trump said during his primetime address that U.S. interests in Afghanistan and Pakistan were clear: stop the resurgence of safe havens for terrorists and preventing weapons of mass destruction from reaching their hands.
To do this, Trump said, "we will learn from history," and the comprehensive review undertaken by the Pentagon would bring about a "dramatic" shift in the U.S. approach to the conflict.
"A core pillar of our new strategy is a shift from a time-based approach to one based on conditions," he said. "I've said it many times, how counterproductive it is for the United States to announce in advance the dates we intend to begin or end military options. We will not talk about numbers of troops or our plans for further military activities. Conditions on the ground, not arbitrary timetables, will guide our strategy from now on."
"America's enemies must never know our plans or believe they can wait us out. I will not say when we are going to attack, but attack we will," he added.