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Tillerson: US Plan Is A Dramatic Shift in Strategy

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, told Fox News on Sunday night that President Donald Trump’s new strategy on Afghanistan clearly states the US is not undertaking nation building and that there needs to be reconciliation between all ethnic groups, including the Taliban.

Tillerson told Fox News: “I think the president (Trump) has been clear in his speech on Afghanistan that we are not undertaking nation building.

“So we will be shifting our diplomatic and aid and development programs as well to coincide with the president’s view that the Afghan government and the Afghan people must own their form of government and they must come to some reconciliation with all ethnic groups, including the Taliban, as to how they can secure their country as a peaceful country, one that does not support terrorism, does not provide safe haven for terrorists, and does not align itself with any terrorist organizations or countries that do. That’s what winning looks like,” he said.

He said the new plan was a dramatic shift in terms of the military strategy and that it will be based completely on the conditions on the ground.

Tillerson said: “We’re shifting from a time-based military strategy that had very clear troop ceiling levels to now, as he (Trump) indicated, a conditions-based strategy, which means it will be dictated by conditions on the ground informed by battlefield commanders.”

Tillerson went on to say that Trump had also delegated significant authority to US Secretary of Defense James Mattis to set troop levels but has also delegated more authority to military commanders in the field in the hope of turning the tide against the Taliban.

“I think we all recognize that for the past couple of years the Taliban has been advancing and Afghan forces have been unable to push them back. So there will be a definite change in military tactics on the ground,” he said.

Tillerson pointed out that this is all directed at sending a message to the Taliban that the US is “not going anywhere; we’re going to be here, we’re going to continue to fight for the Afghan government, support the Afghan Security Forces.”

He said the Taliban needs to engage in a reconciliation process with the Afghan government.

According to him Trump was clear in his speech that he’s not setting any arbitrary timelines, he’s not committing to any deadlines but that the US’s “patience is not unlimited, our time is not unlimited.

“We are going to monitor the conditions on the ground, and our decisions will be formed around the progress on the ground,” he said.

Asked by Fox News how the Trump administration defines victory in Afghanistan, Tillerson said the war against Daesh was clear. “The president’s been clear that we will defeat ISIS (Daesh). We will eliminate ISIS’ capability to organize, to raise financing, to plan, recruit new recruits to their fight to carry out terrorism acts throughout the world. That fight is progressing quite well. We are well on our way to defeating ISIS and we have now taken their caliphate from them in Iraq.”

“All terrorist organizations have somewhat different objectives. So whether it’s ISIS, al-Qaeda, the Taliban or others, our objective is deny any terrorist organization any territory with which they can organize, raise financing, recruit new fighters, develop techniques for carrying out terrorist acts and then deploying those.

“We know that if we deny them the space to do that, we protect the homeland; we also protect Americans and our allies as well. So in the case of Afghanistan, Afghanistan has a history of being a refuge for some of the most devastating attacks carried out. As we all know, the attack of 9/11 was organized and carried out from Afghanistan. So on Afghanistan, we have to secure Afghanistan in a way that that can never occur again because there is no territory available to organizations to do so,” he said.

According to him, Trump has called for the development of “policies and tactics both diplomatically and militarily to attack terrorism in its many forms wherever it exists in the world and wherever it might present a threat to the homeland or to Americans anywhere.”

Tillerson: US Plan Is A Dramatic Shift in Strategy

Speaking to Fox News on Sunday, Rex Tillerson said the US will shift its diplomatic and development programs to coincide with Trump’s views of a military approach.

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US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, told Fox News on Sunday night that President Donald Trump’s new strategy on Afghanistan clearly states the US is not undertaking nation building and that there needs to be reconciliation between all ethnic groups, including the Taliban.

Tillerson told Fox News: “I think the president (Trump) has been clear in his speech on Afghanistan that we are not undertaking nation building.

“So we will be shifting our diplomatic and aid and development programs as well to coincide with the president’s view that the Afghan government and the Afghan people must own their form of government and they must come to some reconciliation with all ethnic groups, including the Taliban, as to how they can secure their country as a peaceful country, one that does not support terrorism, does not provide safe haven for terrorists, and does not align itself with any terrorist organizations or countries that do. That’s what winning looks like,” he said.

He said the new plan was a dramatic shift in terms of the military strategy and that it will be based completely on the conditions on the ground.

Tillerson said: “We’re shifting from a time-based military strategy that had very clear troop ceiling levels to now, as he (Trump) indicated, a conditions-based strategy, which means it will be dictated by conditions on the ground informed by battlefield commanders.”

Tillerson went on to say that Trump had also delegated significant authority to US Secretary of Defense James Mattis to set troop levels but has also delegated more authority to military commanders in the field in the hope of turning the tide against the Taliban.

“I think we all recognize that for the past couple of years the Taliban has been advancing and Afghan forces have been unable to push them back. So there will be a definite change in military tactics on the ground,” he said.

Tillerson pointed out that this is all directed at sending a message to the Taliban that the US is “not going anywhere; we’re going to be here, we’re going to continue to fight for the Afghan government, support the Afghan Security Forces.”

He said the Taliban needs to engage in a reconciliation process with the Afghan government.

According to him Trump was clear in his speech that he’s not setting any arbitrary timelines, he’s not committing to any deadlines but that the US’s “patience is not unlimited, our time is not unlimited.

“We are going to monitor the conditions on the ground, and our decisions will be formed around the progress on the ground,” he said.

Asked by Fox News how the Trump administration defines victory in Afghanistan, Tillerson said the war against Daesh was clear. “The president’s been clear that we will defeat ISIS (Daesh). We will eliminate ISIS’ capability to organize, to raise financing, to plan, recruit new recruits to their fight to carry out terrorism acts throughout the world. That fight is progressing quite well. We are well on our way to defeating ISIS and we have now taken their caliphate from them in Iraq.”

“All terrorist organizations have somewhat different objectives. So whether it’s ISIS, al-Qaeda, the Taliban or others, our objective is deny any terrorist organization any territory with which they can organize, raise financing, recruit new fighters, develop techniques for carrying out terrorist acts and then deploying those.

“We know that if we deny them the space to do that, we protect the homeland; we also protect Americans and our allies as well. So in the case of Afghanistan, Afghanistan has a history of being a refuge for some of the most devastating attacks carried out. As we all know, the attack of 9/11 was organized and carried out from Afghanistan. So on Afghanistan, we have to secure Afghanistan in a way that that can never occur again because there is no territory available to organizations to do so,” he said.

According to him, Trump has called for the development of “policies and tactics both diplomatically and militarily to attack terrorism in its many forms wherever it exists in the world and wherever it might present a threat to the homeland or to Americans anywhere.”

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