14 Times Trump Warned Against Doing What He Just Did in Afghanistan

On the same day millions of Americans were thrilled to witness — and equally distracted by — a total solar eclipse, Donald Trump decided it was time to announce a “dramatically different” foreign policy plan for the U.S. military in Afghanistan.

Just how “different” is Trump’s new plan? In reality, the ‘new’ plan is simply more of the same failed policy of the past, one Trump promised to put an end to numerous times over the years prior to moving into the White House. The only difference is the childish language Trump used to justify the decision, repeatedly vowing to “win” the same conflict James Mattis told Congress “we are not winning” back in June.

On Monday, August 21, 2017, Trump revealed to Fox News that he had signed off on sending 4,000 additional troops to Afghanistan in what is officially the longest war in the history of the United States. Early Tuesday morning, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg praised Trump’s decision to commit more soldiers to fight on the ground in Afghanistan, reminding allies that NATO is fully committed to backing the ‘new’ plan:

“NATO remains fully committed to Afghanistan and I am looking forward to discussing the way ahead with [U.S. Defense] Secretary [James] Mattis and our allies and international partners,” Stoltenberg said in a statement.

America’s favorite war hawk, John McCain, also praised President Trump’s strategy for Afghanistan. He said in a statement that he believes “the President is now moving us well beyond the prior administration’s failed strategy of merely postponing defeat,” also noting that Trump faces the challenge of keeping “the right level of effort, in the right places, with the right authorities and resources to see this conflict through to success.” He continued:

“To do this, the President must conduct himself as a wartime commander-in-chief. He must speak regularly to the American people, and to those waging this war on their behalf, about why we are fighting, why the additional sacrifices are worth it, and how we will success.”

On Fox News, Lindsey Graham said he was “proud” of Donald Trump’s decision:

“President Trump has the smarts and the moral courage to listen to his generals and take their advice rather than go the political way.”

Despite such fawning praise, the president is now contradicting multiple previous statements he made on the quagmire in Afghanistan. Here are 14 times Donald Trump called for the U.S. to withdraw from the war torn country on Twitter and television:

Do not allow our very stupid leaders to sign a deal that keeps us in Afghanistan through 2024-with all costs by U.S.A. MAKE AMERICA GREAT!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 21, 2013

We have wasted an enormous amount of blood and treasure in Afghanistan. Their government has zero appreciation. Let’s get out!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 21, 2013

We should leave Afghanistan immediately. No more wasted lives. If we have to go back in, we go in hard & quick. Rebuild the US first.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 1, 2013

I agree with Pres. Obama on Afghanistan. We should have a speedy withdrawal. Why should we keep wasting our money — rebuild the U.S.!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 14, 2013

Let’s get out of Afghanistan. Our troops are being killed by the Afghanis we train and we waste billions there. Nonsense! Rebuild the USA.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 11, 2013

Karzai of Afghanistan is not sticking with our signed agreement. They are dropping us like dopes. Get out now and re-build U.S.!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 6, 2012

84% of US troops wounded & 70% of our brave men & women killed in Afghanistan have all come under Obama. Time to get out of there.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 11, 2012

Why are we continuing to train these Afghanis who then shoot our soldiers in the back? Afghanistan is a complete waste. Time to come home!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 21, 2012

#trumpvlog My thoughts on Afghanistan, @RickSantorum, and why I fired two people on this week’s #CelebApprentice… http://t.co/Kx83LkkS

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 13, 2012

“Let’s get with it, get out of Afghanistan,” Trump said in the video tweeted above. “We’ve wasted billions and billions of dollars, and more importantly, thousands and thousands of lives — not to mention all of these young men and women that come home and they really have problems.”

It is time to get out of Afghanistan. We are building roads and schools for people that hate us. It is not in our national interests.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 27, 2012

My @foxandfriends interview discussing violence in Afghanistan, rising oil prices and @MittRomney‘s leads in AZ (cont) http://t.co/neuX5zG1

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 27, 2012

In the video linked to in the tweet above, Trump asked Fox and Friends:

“What are we doing there? These people hate us. As soon as we leave, it’s all going to blow up anyway. And you say, ‘What are we doing there?’ We’re spending hundreds of billions of dollars, trillions of dollars on this nonsense. … What are we doing? We’re a debtor nation. We can’t build our own schools, yet we build schools in Afghanistan.”

China is getting minerals from Afghanistan http://t.co/uNxQYQWi We are getting our troops killed by the Afghani govt’t. Time to get out.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 29, 2012

In December 2011 on CNN, Trump said we should “get out” of Afghanistan, declaring:

“We have to rebuild our country. We’re rebuilding. You know, you go to Afghanistan. There is a school. It gets blown up. We rebuild it. We build a road to the school. They both get blown up. We rebuild. In the meantime, if you want to build a school in Brooklyn or Iowa or California, you can’t build them.”

When will we stop wasting our money on rebuilding Afghanistan? We must rebuild our country first.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 7, 2011

As president, it seems Donald Trump is suddenly viewing the war in Afghanistan differently, and the Internet immediately noticed his ‘new’ plan was just more of the same.

Twitter Is Very Unhappy

Below is a compilation of Twitter users’ reactions to the news and mocking Trump for not providing any details or mentioning a timeline for ending America’s longest war.

It’s fun watching everybody talk about Afghanistan using terms like ‘winning’ when nobody even bothers to define what that means.

— Secular Talk (@KyleKulinski) August 22, 2017

That awkward moment when you become what you campaigned against. Trump just went full warhawk.

— Lee Camp [Redacted] (@LeeCamp) August 22, 2017

Trump’s new Afghanistan plan: I won’t announce my Afghanistan plan

— igorvolsky (@igorvolsky) August 22, 2017

Trump: My strategy in Afghanistan is to send 4000 troops so you’ll stop talking about American Nazis.

— David M. Perry (@Lollardfish) August 22, 2017

The essence of Trump’s speech: an expansion of open-ended conflict in Afghanistan with no clear, measurable timeline or goal.

— Beau Willimon (@BeauWillimon) August 22, 2017

How you know something’s a bad idea https://t.co/nkbKuVAwwL

— SM Gibson ⚓️ (@TheSMGibson) August 22, 2017

What’s the endgame in #Afghanistan? What are the win conditions?

Does anyone even know at this point?

— Reinhard Wolff (@contentmancy) August 22, 2017

Trump on Afghanistan strategy: “we will not talk about numbers of troops.” (Don’t the American people deserve to know how many we send?)

— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) August 22, 2017

#Afghanistan no strategy
No goal
No exit date or strategy
Refusing to say it’s 4000 troops

plenty of blame for everyone else.

— L.E. Kinzie (@lekinzie) August 22, 2017

What the fuck is the point of this speech #Afghanistan

— john doe (@nbeck92) August 22, 2017

This speech says nothing. Just another excuse for his day-to-day problems. #Afghanistan

— Krunal Shah (@TweetKrunal) August 22, 2017

Confused. I don’t hear a new policy or war plan for Afghanistan.

— Patrick deHahn (@patrickdehahn) August 22, 2017

Bottom line: Trump has now expanded US military presence and/or airstrikes in EVERY combat theater he inherited from Obama.

— Micah Zenko (@MicahZenko) August 22, 2017

I hope you all can translate this mess tomorrow. I’m not sure what he was trying to say, other than we’re staying in #Afghanistan.

— Pessimistic Princess (@CuriousBug) August 22, 2017

The only facts that were clear following President Trump’s speech on Afghanistan was that nobody knows what to do, and America is clearly not winning.

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