AMMAN, Jordan — President Donald Trump has settled on a new military strategy in Afghanistan after months of bitter internal debates by his national security team and will announce a plan Monday expected to provide U.S. commanders with additional troops and broader authority to pursue militant forces.
Trump is expected to authorize about 4,000 more U.S. troops for counterterrorism missions, as well as U.S. advisers to work closer to the front lines with Afghan military officers in America’s longest war.
The new forces will join the 8,400 U.S. and 5,000 North Atlantic Treaty Organization troops who now train and advise Afghan security forces as they seek to quell a resurgent Taliban, Islamic State militants and other militias that have plunged the war-torn nation into deeper chaos over the last year.
The strategy comes as U.S. military officials have warned of Afghanistan’s fast-worsening security situation. The United Nations said 11,418 civilians were killed last year — the most since the U.N. began keeping records in 2009. Eleven U.S. troops have been killed there so far this year, compared with nine all of last year.
Adding more U.S. forces would reverse President Barack Obama’s decision last year to withdraw 1,200 troops. Obama declared an end to U.S. combat in Afghanistan in 2014.
The new Trump strategy also is expected to try to pressure Pakistan, a nominal U.S. ally, to take greater measures to crack down on Taliban insurgents and other militant groups that launch cross-border raids into Afghanistan.
Whether the strategy will restore stability is far from clear. Despite a variety of American initiatives, the Taliban holds sway over rural areas and controls more territory now than at any time since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001 toppled the group from power, according to U.N. estimates.
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