Full of sound and fury, signifying very little
By Aaron Blake
August 22 at 6:00 AM
... it shed almost no light on what he plans to do differently, apart from apparently de-emphasizing nation-building and reemphasizing killing terrorists. He didn't even directly address how many more troops he would send ...
... this is not a clear definition of victory; it is a series of nebulous goals that pretty much any U.S. president would subscribe to. It does not give us a sense for what will truly change about the U.S. military strategy in Afghanistan, nor does it shed light on when it will ever end ...
He said there wasn't a "blank check" for U.S. investment in Afghanistan, which is what Barack Obama said. He also said he would shift from "a time-based approach to one based on conditions," which sounds .. like the Bush administration's approach.
The speech .. seemed to be .. saying the United States will kick ass overseas but that it will cease doing so whenever it pleases and whenever his opaque goals are realized. ...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/08/22/trumps-vague-doctrine-obliterate-crush-and-damn-the-details/?utm_term=.6b294f2ce4b9