President Trump to outline Afghanistan strategy in primetime address

ABCNews.com(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump is set to unveil a new U.S. strategy in Afghanistan.

The president will address the nation Monday night from Fort Myer in Arlington, Virginia, “to provide an update on the path forward for America’s engagement in Afghanistan and South Asia,” according to a statement from the White House.

Trump and his team have been in talks for months about a strategy to pursue in Afghanistan.

Defense Secretary James Mattis told Congress in June he believed the administration would have its strategy by mid-July, but the team missed that deadline. On Thursday, he told reporters that the Camp David meeting last week with Trump’s national security team would “move this toward a decision” and said a decision would occur in “the very near future.” U.S. officials have said Mattis favors a Pentagon proposal to send 3,900 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan.

The address will be Trump’s third primetime address to the American people as president. His first was at the end of January when he announced he was going to nominate Neil Gorsuch as a Supreme Court judge. And in his second was on April 6 from Mar-a-Lago after he ordered missile strikes on a Syrian air base.

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