The Pentagon has commenced the deployment of additional troops to Afghanistan to actualise President Donald Trump’s new war strategy, which is a deflection of the last administration’s approach of supporting the Afghans’ fight against the Taliban rather than doing the fighting for them, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said yesterday night.

Mattis told reporters at a news conference a the Pentagon, “Yes, I’ve signed orders, but it’s not complete”.

Just like Trump’s antics during the speech in Fort Meyer a fortnight ago, Mattis would not divulge the numbers of the additional troops nor what their exact roles will be.

According to TIME, the president’s decision to reinforce American military commitment was ratified after months considerable evaluation within the administration over the potential reward of stabilising Afghanistan to the point where its own forces can prevent a Taliban takeover and contain other militant threats outweighs the risk involved.

Stressing that Afghan forces will remain in the lead, with the extra U.S. troops taking a support role, Mattis said, “By and large this is to enable the Afghan forces to fight more effectively”. “It’s more advisers, more enablers,” such as “fire support” teams, which he declined to specify but could be artillery units.

“I just signed the orders. It’s going to take a couple of days” – stating that the additional U.S. troops have not arrived Afghanistan yet.

The deployment was surely necessitated by the reports from Afghan owing to Trump’s speech while announcing his new strategy Aug. 21, where he said only conditions on the ground would determine their next action. He said “conditions on the ground, not arbitrary timetables,” will guide the strategy, and suggested troop levels will be kept largely secret.

“We will not talk about numbers of troops or our plans for further military activities,” Trump said.

Adegbite Adedotun