Picking up its urgency in Afghanistan, the U.S. military hopes to justify its 15,000 increase in U.S. forces and move toward a resolution of the longest war in U.S. history, The Washington Post reported.
"This is not another year of the same thing we've been doing for 17 years," Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said. "This is a fundamentally different approach."
Now more than ever, longstanding U.S. commanders are seeking a negotiated end to the conflict, particularly since the Taliban has proved it can evolve and regenerate and the U.S. and NATO forces cannot support the Afghan government's effort indefinitely, according to the report.
"The number-one metric is how are we doing toward reconciliation," commander of international forces in Afghanistan Gen. John Nicholson said.
Earlier this month, Nicholson had talked up peace talks with the Afghanistan government and the Taliban, which might take years but should start sooner than later.
The increase in urgency comes after H.R. McMaster, who helped shape President Donald Trump's strategy in Afghanistan, is expected to give way to John Bolton as national security adviser.
"[President Trump] wanted to have a sound regional strategy, not a strategy that lasts a year," McMaster said last August. "We have had 16 one-year strategies in Afghanistan."
The U.S. intends to stay in Afghanistan until their own forces are "so capable and lethal" they can fight back the Taliban, retired Lt. Gen. David Barno told the Post.
"I am not optimistic we are going to see that happen anytime soon," Barno added.
Skepticism is "what's driving the sense of speed" now, former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Ronald E. Neumann told the Post.
"They don't know how much firmness we have in our own project," he added.
Also, Friday, President Trump froze more than $200 million in U.S. funds for recovery efforts in Syria after he has talked about pulling out there to "let other people take care of it now."
That news came a night after an American service member was killed by a roadside bomb in Syria.
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