Mattis in Afghanistan: ‘A lot is riding’ on Trump’s war strategy

Defense Secretary James Mattis on Wednesday pledged support for Afghan forces but declined to address specific U.S. troop numbers during a surprise visit to Afghanistan.

Mattis, who arrived in the country after a trip to India, said the U.S. will take a “holistic” approach, with no set deadlines to defeat the Taliban, using the support of other countries in the region including Pakistan and India.

“I prefer not to go into the specific numbers right now. We are bringing in more Americans. There are also more coalition forces, non–Americans who are coming in,” Mattis said at a joint press conference with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.

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“I don’t want to tell the enemy exactly what we’re doing. But the whole point is to make certain that we have a compelling battlefield advantage over anything the Taliban tries to mass against your forces,” Mattis said.

He added that the U.S. would not allow “a merciless enemy to kill its way to power.”

“I want to reinforce to the Taliban that the only path to peace and political legitimacy for them is through a negotiated settlement,” he said.

Mattis had met with several top Afghan government officials, including Acting Defense Minister Tariq Shah Bahrami and Acting Interior Minister Wais Barmak, earlier in the day at the coalition’s headquarters. Stoltenberg and U.S. Afghanistan Forces Commander Gen. John Nicholson also attended the meeting.

Ghani also hosted Stoltenberg, Nicholson and Mattis at the Presidential Palace, where they “discussed the security situation in Afghanistan and reviewed the government’s reforms,” according to a NATO statement.

President Trump in August revealed a new Afghanistan war strategy, which includes an increase of U.S. troops in the region and cooperation with neighboring countries such as India and Pakistan.

There are roughly 11,000 American service members already in Afghanistan. The Pentagon is expected to send more than 3,000 additional troops to help train and advise the Afghan military and participate in counterterrorism missions.

During the press conference in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul, Mattis said “a lot is riding” on Trump’s strategy “as we look toward how do we put an end to this fighting and the threat of terrorism to the Afghan people, to the international community and how do we put this into a path of political reconciliation.”

Mattis missed by several hours a rocket attack meant to target him at a Kabul airport. He acknowledged he heard press reports on the attack — claimed by both the Taliban and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

“If, in fact, this is what they have done, they will find the Afghan Security Forces continuing on the offensive against them in every district of the country right now,” Mattis said.

The trip to Afghanistan immediately follows Mattis’s visit to India, where he met with the country’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In a Tuesday press conference alongside Indian Minister of Defense Nirmala Sitharaman, Mattis said the U.S. “intend to work closely with India, collaborating with India and like-minded nations” to eradicate safe havens for terrorists.