Washington, August 21 (RHC)-- U.S. President Donald Trump has once again boasted that he could “win” the Afghanistan war "in a week" without using nuclear weapons, further insisting that the effort “would have to” involve killing 10 million Afghans.
“As I’ve said, and I’ll say it any number of times -- and this is not using nuclear -- we could win that war in a week if we wanted to fight it, but I’m not looking to kill 10 million people,” Trump reiterated on Tuesday while speaking to reporters in the White House during a meeting with his Romanian counterpart.
“I’m not looking to kill 10 million Afghans, because that’s what would have to happen, and I’m not looking to do that,” added the hawkish American president, without elaborating on how he would accomplish the swift conclusion of the U.S. military’s 18-year war on Afghanistan.
U.S.-led forces invaded war-ravaged Afghanistan in 2001 as part of Washington’s so-called ‘war on terror’ campaign to purportedly rid the country from terrorism – then led by Saudi-linked al-Qaeda terror group and the rule of allied Taliban militants.
However, since the massive U.S.-led occupation of the country, Taliban-led terrorism and narcotics trade has drastically expanded across Afghanistan with American military commanders there admitting that the Taliban insurgents remain in control of most of the country, leading Washington to initiate “peace” negotiations with the notorious militant group years ago – which remains ongoing amid U.S. claims that Taliban has pledged to rid Afghanistan from terrorism, prevent other terror groups from using the nation as a base to attack U.S. interests, and even commit to women rights.
Trump’s latest remarks followed similar unprecedented claims he made last month when he also insisted that he could end the Afghan war "in a week," drawing speculation on how he would go about such a plan.
Last month, on July 22nd, during a meeting with Pakistani President Imran Khan in Washington, Trump said: “If I wanted to win that war, Afghanistan would be wiped off the face of the earth. ... It would be over in — literally, in 10 days.”
The appalling remarks left many wondering whether the American president was contemplating the use of nuclear weapons against Afghanistan, as Afghans expressed alarm and fury over the assertions with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani seeking “clarification” on Trump’s comments through diplomatic channels.
This is while Trump also underlined during his Tuesday remarks that it’s “ridiculous” that the US has remained in Afghanistan for 18 years, repeating his belief that American troops are acting as a “police force” there.
The U.S. military still maintains nearly 14,000 troops in Afghanistan while claiming to engage on a dual mission of training, advising and assisting Afghan forces in their battle against the mostly Taliban-led terror attacks, and conducting counter-terrorism operations against other terror groups in the country such as al-Qaeda and Daesh (ISIL).
