General Jim Mattis, Minister of Defence, and General Joseph Dunford, Chief of Staff, delivered their statements, testimony and answers to the Senate Armed Forces Committee and then presented and defended the new strategy to the Council. They said that unlike the Iraq-Syria wars when the aim was to destroy the Islamic State, the United States armed forces were working in accordance with Afghanistan's new strategy to achieve the goal of convincing the Taliban that they could not prevail and should therefore enter into negotiations with the Government. The next stage in the Afghan war will be the Taliban's "breaking will" by creating the parties to persuade them of the futility of continuing the war.
The plan to be implemented at the stage already begun requires that experts from NATO and the United States military be placed in all units of the Afghan Army stationed on the front lines. This means the urgent need to recall some 3,000 new soldiers to the coalition forces. The actual fighting will be carried out by Afghan soldiers and the task of the coalition experts remains to advise, guide and recall the air force when necessary. Since 2014, U.S. commanders had stopped supporting Afghan forces by flying. In other words, aviation intervention is the most important change in the new plan.
The second change in the US war plan under Trump is its failure to set a timetable for withdrawal from Afghanistan, after US leaders found that the Taliban benefited from it every time America set a date for its withdrawal.
Mattis and Dunford acknowledged that they considered victory to be achieved when the Taliban announced their willingness to take a place at the negotiating table with the Kabul government. They also acknowledged that under certain circumstances the US military was prepared to invite the Taliban to participate in the pursuit of ISIS and al-Qa 'idah.
The conclusion: reached by the elders of the United States Congress is that (1) there is no exit from Afghanistan. (2) America's wars from now on will depend on experts, advisers and air support. and (3) focus on Pakistan to weaken its support for the Taliban.
In other words, it's no secret that America is locked in a war that you don't know how to get out of and you may never get out of, which Senator Elizabeth Warren has expressed by saying if it's a war forever.