Pentagon chief: No decision on troop levels for Afghanistan

Defense Secretary James Mattis said Tuesday that he hasn’t decided how many troops will be sent to Afghanistan following President Trump’s speech on the path forward in the 16-year war.

Mattis told reporters traveling with him in Iraq that he’s waiting for a plan from the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff before deciding on troop numbers.

“When he brings that to me, I will determine how many more we need to send in,” Mattis told reporters during a visit to Baghdad, according to Reuters. “It may or may not be the number that is bandied about.”

{mosads}Trump gave Mattis the authority to deploy more troops to Afghanistan in June, but the retired Marine Corps general held off on sending any more there until the president settled on a strategy.

In a prime-time address Monday night, Trump unveiled his decision in broad strokes. He said the U.S. presence in Afghanistan will now be based on conditions on the ground, rather than a specific timeline. He also said the United States will put more pressure on Pakistan to combat terrorist safe havens within its borders.

But Trump declined to discuss specifics, including how many more troops he expects to send.

“We will not talk about numbers of troops or our plan for further military activities,” Trump said. “I will not say when we are going to attack, but attack we will.”

The Pentagon is said to favor adding about 4,000 U.S. troops to the 8,400 already in Afghanistan. Those troops have two missions: to train, advise and assist Afghan forces battling the Taliban, and to conduct counterterrorism missions against groups such as al Qaeda and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

After Monday’s speech, Mattis issued a brief statement saying he’s “directed the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to make preparations to carry out the president’s strategy.”

Asked Tuesday how the new strategy differs from previous administrations, Mattis said it is broader but declined to discuss specifics.

“There is a broader approach to this, and it all comes down to the execution, and we will have to stand and deliver on this,” Mattis said, according to Reuters. “You’ll just have to watch it unfold to really get the answer to it.”