The United States President Donald Trump in a meeting with his national security team that entitled “Calm before the Storm” said the limits on the US soldiers in Afghanistan ‘have been removed’.
Trump said after this the US commanders will have more authorities on the battlefields in Afghan soil.
“As I said during our last meeting my number one priority as Commander-in-Chief is to keep our people safe and to empower you, our senior military leaders to do what you do best,” said Trump.
Trump also said they should have addressed many big challenges in advance including the North Korea, Daesh and Afghanistan issue” and that the US has changed its strategy in Afghanistan.
“But recently we have had challenges that we really should have taken care of a long time ago like North Korea, Iran, Afghanistan, ISIS (Daesh) and the revisionist powers that threaten our interests all around the world,” said Trump.
This comes after Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif at a gathering in US Institute of Peace in Washington said Islamabad really wants to cooperate with Washington to find a solution to the Afghan problem.
“We want to cooperate, really cooperate with the US. We want to find a solution to the Afghan problem, because we are the direct beneficiaries of peace in Afghanistan,” said Asif.
Asif also warned of Taliban and Daesh cooperation and said if these two groups get together; it will be a very serious threat for the region.
Asif said US has already lost the Afghan war.
“You already lost the war. You're just trying to salvage your situation over there. If you pursue the military solution, you will force Taliban and Daesh (IS) to get together and that will be the biggest curse for us to face, for the region to face. We don't want to see that situation happening in our region,” said Asif.
The Pakistani foreign minister meanwhile said Islamabad is fighting against terrorists and that it is winning the war against extremism and terrorist groups.
“We are the only winners against terrorism in the whole world,” Asif added.
Asif’s remarks come following his meeting with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Wednesday and National Security Adviser HR McMaster earlier on Thursday.