Tillerson Announces Intent to Negotiate With Taliban, Which of Course Contradicts Trump Tweet
Secy. Tillerson: “@POTUS was clear: This entire effort is intended to put pressure on the Taliban.” pic.twitter.com/Yazj0Oz0ra
— Fox News (@FoxNews) August 22, 2017
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson gave a very dry press conference on Tuesday regarding the newly declared policy approach to Afghanistan. And while President Donald Trump has slammed the previous White House for trudging along with America’s longest war, in a Monday night speech he committed to increase U.S. military presence in the country in order to continue to fight the Taliban insurgency.
The U-turn on the president’s outlook on Afghanistan is remarkable enough. But Tillerson also made some remarks in his presser that contradict Trump’s prior comments bashing President Obama for his negotiations with the Taliban.
“This entire effort is intended to put pressure on the Taliban, to have the Taliban understand: you will not win a battlefield victory. We may not win one but neither will you,” Tillerson told reporters. “At some point, we have to come to the negotiating table and find a way to bring this to an end.”
In accordance with the ‘There’s-an-old-and-damning-Trump-tweet-for-every-scenario’ law, here is a 2012 tweet from the now-president:
While @BarackObama is slashing the military, he is also negotiating with our sworn enemy the Taliban–who facilitated 9/11.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 13, 2012
Now, assuming Tillerson is in the loop on the administration’s Afghanistan policy (you never really know with this White House) it appears that since his election Trump has become comfortable negotiating “with our sworn enemy the Taliban – who facilitated 9/11.”
Watch Tillerson above, via Fox News.
[image via screengrab]
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Follow Aidan McLaughlin (@aidnmclaughlin) on Twitter
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