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George W. Bush invaded Afghanistan, then BarackObamafailed to completely pull out American troops, and now soldiers are dying on President Trumps watch as the U.S. continues to be engaged in a 16-year war with no end in sight.

While President Trump continues to lambaste American involvement in the Middle East frequently saying the U.S. got nothing for the conflicts the president, his aides, or the Defense Department have yet to lay out a strategy for the Afghan war.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked repeatedly Thursday if the administration will deploy more troops to Afghanistan, an ideabackedby the top U.S. commander in the region. She referred reporters to the Defense Department as Trump has delegated troop level authority to Defense Secretary James Mattis.

Defense Department spokesmanAdam Stump told The Daily Caller, No decisions have been made.

There are roughly 8,500 American troops in Afghanistan and President Trump gave Mattis the authority to deploy 3,000 more, according to a Washington Postreport. Mattis has yet to deploy these troops, although a former intelligence adviser who worked with both Mattis and McMaster told TheDC in April that additional soldiers are needed to win the war in Afghanistan.

The only way to effectively win in Afghanistan is not announce a withdrawal and find a way to stay, Michael Pregent, now an adjunct fellow at the Hudson Institute,said.

However, it would be quite the departure from Trumps rhetoric for his administration to send more troops to Afghanistan and to have them stay there for a while. The president had a luncheon with service members on Monday, and there Trump said, Weve been there for now close to 17 years, and I want to find out why weve been there for 17 years, how its going, and what we should do in terms of additional ideas.

TheDC askedSanders that same day if Trump would support a long-term deployment of troops in Afghanistan, and the spokeswoman replied: The president is still reviewing what options he wants to take and what decisions hell make, and well keep you guys posted when we have an announcement on that.

There is also another option for how to deal with the situation in Afghanistan that is supported by White House chief strategist Steve Bannon and senior adviser Jared Kushner, according to a report fromThe American Conservative.The plan the two reportedly are supportive of is using mercenaries to train the Afghan military and battle the resurgent Taliban.

Eric Prince, founder of the infamous private military company Blackwater (now known as Academi), described this plan to Big League Politics in an interview as a way for America to get on the off ramp in the conflict.

The US military has spent 16 years and a trillion dollars and they werent able to put the fire out. At bare minimum, this is a much cheaper way to proceed. Even if you ignore effect, you have a significant cost savings $40 billion plus, Prince said.

Cost savings is something President Trump has continued to bring up. He said in a recentinterviewthat its ridiculous that it is more difficult for him to ask Congress for funds to rebuild infrastructure in America than it is to get trillions to fund war in the Middle East.

Whatever ends up happening will be a decision that rests on Trumps shoulders even if he delegated troop authority to Mattis. He delegated not one bit of the strategy by the way. Not one bit. That is his and his alone, the defense secretarytoldreporters Friday.

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Trump Hates Being In Afghanistan, But Admin Is Mum On What His Policy Will Be - The Daily Caller

The president said on Sunday that the tourism sector in Afghanistan needs to be revived as it could draw millions of visitors a year.

President Ashraf Ghani on Sunday reassured the people of Afghanistan that peace and security will come to the country, and called for the revival of Afghanistans tourism industry to be used as a source against terrorism. Ghani made the remarks during a scientific and research seminar in Kabul on challenges facing the tourism industry. He said that Afghanistan could become a popular tourism destination and that it had the capacity to host up to five million tourists a year. The seminar which was organized by the Ministry of Information and Culture (MoIC) aimed to find ways to develop Afghanistans tourism industry. If the people think that it is early, I would say that it is not early, be prepared, peace, stability and prosperity will come, said Ghani. At the conference, the president called on those working in the tourism sector to outline their recommendations and proposals which could boost the tourism industry in Afghanistan. I hope that the seminars hear clear and practical recommendations, added Ghani. Afghanistan has already signed an agreement with France which aims to draw up a list of Afghanistans historical monuments and heritage sites. Tourism is a soft industry and we need security for it, said Mohammad Rasul Bawari, the acting minister of information and culture. Statistics of Ministry of Information and Culture (MoIC) shows that last year Afghanistan generated $25 million revenue from the tourism industry. Foreign tourism is virtually non-existent but local tourists have access to about 120 guesthouses across the country - which in turn provides jobs for an estimated 6,000 people. Afghanistan for year has been the center of connectivity and the center for the transfer of ideas, culture and civilization and it will keep its reputation in the future also, said Ghani.

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Ghani Calls For The Revival of Afghanistan's Tourism Industry - TOLOnews

BBC News

Afghanistan: Taliban 'kidnapped dozens' of villagers BBC News At least seven villagers have been killed after being kidnapped by suspected Taliban militants, a senior Afghan police official says. He said about dozens of villagers were abducted in Kandahar province earlier in the week. About 30 have been released ... Taliban Kidnaps at Least 60, Kills 7 in Southern AfghanistanVoice of America 70 villagers kidnapped in Afghanistan, at least 7 killed: policeDaily Mail Police accuse Taliban of killing seven and abducting 70 in AfghanistanTRT World Press TV all 7 news articles »

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Afghanistan: Taliban 'kidnapped dozens' of villagers - BBC News

BBC News

Afghanistan: 16 police killed in US friendly-fire air strike BBC News A US air strike has killed 16 Afghan policemen in the southern province of Helmand, local officials say. The attack happened as Afghan security forces were clearing Taliban militants from a village in the Gereshk district, police told AFP news agency ... US air raid kills Afghan police in HelmandAljazeera.com Friendly fire strike by US kills 16 Afghan police, officials sayCNN International Taliban chief's son among bombers killed in AfghanistanEconomic Times The Guardian -New York Times -TIME all 128 news articles »

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Afghanistan: 16 police killed in US friendly-fire air strike - BBC News

KANDAHAR: Seventy Afghans were abducted Friday from their village along the main highway in the south of the country, and at least seven were killed, police said, accusing the Taliban of the kidnappings.

Around 30 villagers have been released but at least 30 others are still missing, Abdul Raziq, the head of Kandahar provincial police told AFP.

"The Taliban abducted 70 people from their house in a village along the Kandahar-Tarinkot highway, Friday. They killed seven of them today," Raziq said. "Their bodies were found by villagers this morning."

"They released 30 and are still keeping around 30 others," he said, adding they were "civilian Pashtuns", the ethnicity of many Taliban fighters.

The highway runs from Kandahar, the largest city in southern Afghanistan, to Tarinkot, capital of Uruzgan province, a poppy-growing area where the Taliban have a heavy presence.

It is not clear why the villagers were seized. Government officials and security forces are usually the target of such incidents.

Civilians are increasingly caught in the crosshairs of Afghanistan's worsening conflict as the Taliban step up their annual spring offensive, launched in April against the Western-backed Kabul government.

Highways around Afghanistan passing through insurgency-prone areas have become exceedingly dangerous, with the Taliban and other armed groups frequently kidnapping or killing travellers.

But it is unusual for the Taliban to go into villages to take civilians as hostages. In general they intercept vehicles on the road, checking to see if passengers have links to the government.

In July, Taliban fighters closed a highway connecting Farah to Herat city, stopping a bus and forcing 16 passengers to dismount. They shot at least seven of them, while the remaining nine were taken hostage.

Friday's incident was confirmed by officials at the Independent Human Rights Commission in Kandahar and Kabul in a statement condemning the kidnappings and executions.

Fighting is underway in several northern and southern provinces in Afghanistan, including Helmand where 16 Afghan police officers were killed by a US airstrike on Friday night -- the latest setback to Washington's efforts to bring peace to the war-torn country.

The strike hit a compound in Gereshk district, large parts of which are under Taliban control.

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70 villagers kidnapped in Afghanistan, at least 7 killed - Economic Times