WASHINGTON (AP) – A year after the Trump administration introduced its strategy for Afghanistan, the Taliban are asserting themselves on the battlefield even as U.S. officials talk up hopes for peace.
That’s raising questions about the viability of the American game plan for ending a war that began when some of the current U.S. troops were in diapers.
Fighting across the country has intensified in recent weeks despite brief cease-fires by government and Taliban forces earlier in the summer.
An ongoing Taliban assault on Ghazni, a city south of Kabul, has demonstrated the militants’ ability to attack, if not hold, a strategic center.
Some wonder whether President Donald Trump can resist pulling the plug on the war. The U.S. is still spending $4 billion-plus a year just to keep Afghan forces afloat.
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