WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said on Saturday he and top American generals had agreed on a new strategy for the war in Afghanistan.

Mr Trump met his security advisers at the Camp David presidential retreat on Friday to consider a new strategy, which his advisers said would cover the entire South Asian region, including Pakistan and India.

“Important day spent at Camp David with our very talented generals and military leaders,” he tweeted. “Many decisions made, including on Afghanistan.”

His first tweet on the talks, released soon after the meeting on Friday evening, did not mention Afghanistan. “Just returned... from Camp David. GREAT meeting on National Security, the Border and the Military,” he wrote.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Defence Secretary James Mattis, top intelligence agency officials and other key military and diplomatic aides also attended the meeting.

Bajwa-Votel meeting may lead to understanding between their two militaries, say sources

The White House National Security Council, which has been working on the new policy for months, was expected to announce it in July but differences among key officials and advisers delayed the review process. An earlier version was presented to President Trump after the deadline but was rejected because he believed it could not win the Afghan war, the US media reported.

Defence Secretary Mattis, however, said on Thursday that the talks “will move this (review process) toward a decision” after months of heated debate.

Senior US officials have indicated that a debate on how to deal with Pakistan’s alleged reluctance in fighting the Afghan Taliban contributed to the delay. While some officials suggested bringing more pressure on Pakistan by stopping military aid, others argued that such steps could be counterproductive.

Last month, US Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen Joseph Dunford said at the Aspen security conference that Pakistan was a key player in the region and the new strategy would not work “unless we have a higher degree of cooperation from Pakistan”.

On Friday, senior US and Pakistani commanders met in Rawalpindi to discuss security cooperation between their two countries. Commander of the US Central Command Gen Joseph Votel led the American delegation at the meeting while Army Chief Gen Qamar Bajwa headed the Pakistani team.

Reports in the US media underlined the role Pakistan could play in restoring peace to Afghanistan while diplomatic sources in Washington said the Bajwa-Votel meeting could lead to an understanding between the two militaries on how to fight religious militancy in the Pak-Afghan region.

At Camp David, President Trump and his security aides discussed several options for Afghanistan, from sending in additional troops to walking away from the war, the media reported. The reports, however, pointed out that walking away was an unlikely option as Washington realises that doing so could once again turn Afghanistan into a breeding ground for terrorism.

The media noted that Mr Trump wants to win the war but is reluctant to send large numbers of additional US troops to Afghanistan.

He is also willing to accept a negotiated settlement but first wants to beat the Taliban in the battlefield for them to work with the US-installed government in Kabul. And this poses a challenge to US policymakers who have, so far, failed to devise a strategy that could defeat the Taliban without sending more troops and firepower to Afghanistan.

Published in Dawn, August 20th, 2017