Bay Ridge

Donovan praises Trump’s America First foreign policy

Congress member lauds plans for troop surge in Afghanistan

August 24, 2017 By Paula Katinas Brooklyn Daily Eagle
U.S. Rep. Dan Donovan says President Trump has offered “a strong foundation” for the nation’s policy on Afghanistan. Eagle file photo by Paula Katinas
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A Brooklyn lawmaker whose district includes the only active military base in New York City praised the speech delivered by Donald Trump at Fort Meyer in Virginia in which the president outlined a new strategy for fighting the war in Afghanistan. 

U.S. Rep. Dan Donovan (R-C-Bay Ridge-Southwest Brooklyn-Staten Island) said the president “gave a strong foundation for an America-first foreign policy.”

Donovan’s congressional district includes the U.S. Army Garrison at Fort Hamilton. Located in Bay Ridge, the base is the only active military post within the confines of New York City. 

In the speech, which he delivered Monday in front of an audience of military members at the fort, Trump announced that he would authorize the Pentagon to assign additional troops to Afghanistan and that the U.S. would be using a results-oriented yardstick to measure success, rather than a timetable. 

The president said he would not announce the number of troops or the date of their arrival in Afghanistan in order to avoid tipping off America’s enemies. But The New York Times reported that the figure is close to 4,000.

The U.S. has been in Afghanistan since 2001.

Trump candidly admitted in his speech that he had originally wanted to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan and bring the 16-year-old war to a close. But the president said that sitting in the Oval Office had changed his perspective.

“My original instinct was to pull out. But all my life I’ve heard that decisions are much different when you sit behind the desk in the Oval Office, in other words, when you’re president of the United States. So I studied Afghanistan in great detail and from every conceivable angle. First, our nation must seek an honorable and enduring outcome worthy of the tremendous sacrifices that have been made, especially the sacrifices of lives. The men and women who serve our nation in combat deserve a plan for victory,” the president stated.

“A hasty withdrawal would create a vacuum for terrorists, including ISIS and Al Qaeda, would instantly fill just as happened before Sept. 11,” Trump added.

Donovan, who serves on the House Committee on Homeland Security and the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, said there was much to like in Trump’s speech.

“It’s a refreshing appeal for our country to act in its own interests; a doctrine that requires decisive action against our enemies and prudent use of our resources. I firmly support the president’s conditions-based approach in pursuing victory after 16 years of war,” Donovan said.

 

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