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Trump’s Afghan strategy will cause more bloodshed, terrorism: Corbyn

Tuesday, 22 August 2017 11:07 PM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 23 August 2017 12:00 AM ]

Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn addresses a rally at the Durham Miners Gala in Durham, north east England on July 8, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

UK Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn has called on the British government not to “obediently applaud” US President Donald Trump’s plan for the deployment of additional troops to Afghanistan and more bombing, saying the new American strategy will cause more bloodshed, and increase terrorism.

Corbyn made the remarks on Tuesday, after Trump unveiled his administration’s new strategy in Afghanistan and said he would prolong the military intervention in the war-ravaged country despite earlier plans for the withdrawal of American troops.

“The war in Afghanistan has failed. After 16 years of bloodshed and destruction, the Taliban are undefeated and terrorism is no less of a threat at home. In fact it has spread,” Corbyn said.

“The British government should make clear to Donald Trump that his strategy of more bombing and a new troop surge will continue this failure, not obediently applaud his latest policy u-turn,” he added.

In a nationally televised speech before a military audience at Fort Myer, Trump said the US would “ask our NATO allies and global partners to support our new strategy with additional troop and funding increases in line with our own – we are confident they will.”

The US president did not reveal how many extra forces Washington planned to send.

This is while Trump, during his presidential campaigns, was critical of the US policy of military interventionism in Afghanistan, branding it a “total and complete disaster” and calling for the US to pull out of the South Asian country and spend the money at home instead.

US Marines salute during a handover ceremony at Leatherneck Camp in Lashkar Gah in the Afghan province of Helmand on April 29, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

The United States currently has around 8,400 soldiers in Afghanistan with about another 5,000 troops from NATO allies. Britain currently has up to 585 troops in Afghanistan.

NATO countries are asked by the US to send 3,000 to 5,000 more soldiers to Afghanistan, as Washington is also planning to send up to 4,000 additional troops, including hundreds of Special Operations forces, to the war-torn country.

Washington claims that the massive military presence is only aimed at maintaining security across the country and pushing back Taliban and Daesh (ISIL) militants until Afghan military forces are ready to take over the responsibility.

In mid-April, Trump allowed US troops in Afghanistan to drop the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB) bomb—also known as Mother of All Bombs—on a purported Daesh target in the eastern province of Nangarhar.

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