This Is How We Got To Trump's Decision On Afghanistan

The longest war in American history hasn't been at the top of Trump's public agenda, but over the last seven months, his national security team has been working to come to some kind of consensus over what exactly needs to change there. The process has reportedly been an arduous one, with Trump repeatedly delaying any firm choice on a change in strategy even as US forces continue to die while deployed there.

Most people pointed out that the speech, which was big on rhetorical platitudes, was very short on actual details.

And that, Trump said, is part of the strategy: "A core pillar of our new strategy is a shift from a time-based approach to one based on conditions. I’ve said it many times how counterproductive it is for the United States to announce in advance the dates we intend to begin, or end, military options. We will not talk about numbers of troops or our plans for further military activities.

"Conditions on the ground — not arbitrary timetables — will guide our strategy from now on. America’s enemies must never know our plans or believe they can wait us out. I will not say when we are going to attack, but attack we will."

This has come critics worried, saying it'll be unclear how to measure the success of the strategy and hold the administration accountable.

Trump added, "We are not nation-building again. We are killing terrorists."

Following the September 11 terror attacks, the US launched a mission in 2001 to topple the Taliban and prevent Afghanistan from becoming a safe haven for networks like al-Qaeda to plan attacks against the US. The US was able to remove the Taliban from office, but has since then struggled to contain the resulting insurgency.

In addition to the troops, the new strategy included treating Afghanistan and Pakistan as two parts of the same problem, a new commitment to training and equipping Afghan security forces, and a mission to "disrupt, dismantle, and defeat al Qaeda and its safe havens." The strategy was a contentious one, a middle ground between more hawkish calls for even more forces and a desire to only focus on counterterrorism. In the end, there would be several more troop deployments to Afghanistan over the next year, tripling the US presence on the ground.

In December 2014, the US combat mission in Afghanistan officially ended. Force levels dropped down to 30,000 amid a "drawdown" meant to hand over control of security to Afghan forces. When Obama left office, there were still about 8,400 US forces left in the country to continue to train and advise the Afghans.

ISIS Khorosan (ISIS-K) currently controls at least one area in the country's Nagahar province and has claimed credit for numerous attacks across the country, including one in March that targeted a Kabul hospital.

Bannon, like Trump prior to his election, believed that efforts should be diverted from Afghanistan and instead focused on US domestic concerns. (A proposal from Bannon to replace US military forces with private security forces reportedly went nowhere.)

National security adviser H.R. McMaster and Defense Secretary James Mattis in turn argued in favor of meeting the demands of the generals on the ground. The final decision on the new strategy came on Friday after a day of meetings at Camp David; Bannon, who by the end of the day would be out of his job, did not attend.

But Trump was reportedly reluctant to go along with the request and generally unhappy with the options available. According to NBC News, the president went as far as to call for Nicholson to be replaced, though no steps have yet been taken to make that a reality. Mattis meanwhile gave authority in June to add additional troops but opted instead to wait for the review to be completed.

Critics of the ongoing US presence have asked what effect so few troops will have on the general outcome of the war, given that 100,000 were unable to bring about lasting peace.

Making matters even more difficult: reports that Russia is arming the Taliban and the general state of play in the country, where the insurgents control a growing amount of territory.

That said, it's not clear whether the US war there will be wrapping up in the near future — or stretch into its 20th year.