President Trump hosted four U.S. service members who served in Afghanistan Tuesday at the White House, saying he wants the views of “people on the ground” as he debates sending more troops there.
“We’ve been there for now close to 17 years, and I want to find out why we’ve been there for 17 years, how it’s going, and what we should do in terms of additional ideas,” Mr. Trump said. “I’ve heard plenty of ideas from a lot of people, but I want to hear it from the people on the ground.”
His guests at the luncheon in the Roosevelt Room included Army First Sgt. Michael Wagner, Army Master Sgt. Zachary Bowman, Army Master Sgt. Henry Adames, and Air Force Major Eric Birch. Also in attendance were Vice President Mike Pence and White House National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster.
The president referred to the service members as “four great soldiers who spent a lot of time in Afghanistan.”
“These are people on the ground — know it probably better than anybody,” Mr. Trump said. “And we’re going to be getting some ideas because we’ve been there — it’s our longest war — we’ve been there for many years.”
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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