唐纳德·特朗普总统声称他可以在一周内赢得阿富汗战争，但这样的运动将杀死1000万人，几乎占总人口的三分之一。
特朗普在与巴基斯坦总理伊姆兰·汗会谈后告诉记者，“我可以在一周内赢得这场战争”。“我不想杀死1000万人...阿富汗可能会从地球上消失。我不想走那条路...我有一个计划，可以在很短的时间内赢得这场战争……”
美国领导的阿富汗战争是五角大楼历史上最长的冲突，起因于2001年9·11袭击后发动的入侵。这次致命的行动是由伊斯兰激进组织基地组织实施的，该组织是当时主导阿富汗内战的塔利班组织的盟友。
尽管多年来控制线时断时续，但塔利班卷土重来，特朗普政府选择了和平谈判，但和平谈判尚未遏制这个饱受战争蹂躏的国家持续不断的暴力。
7月18日，坎大哈省警察总部浓烟滚滚，阿富汗警察抵达汽车炸弹袭击现场。尽管进行了和平谈判，袭击仍在继续动摇这个饱受战争蹂躏的国家。贾韦德·坦维尔/法新社/盖蒂图片社
这些言论引起了人们的担忧，特朗普可能已经考虑了阿富汗的核选择，这一想法导致现为政治分析师的退役四星陆军上将巴里·麦卡弗里(Barry McCaffrey)在推特上批评了整个会议。
“麻烦听听特朗普与巴基斯坦总理在椭圆形办公室的新闻发布会。[大胆地说，我们已经分析并考虑使用核武器来杀害阿富汗数百万人，以此来解决冲突。特朗普在想什么？”麦卡弗里发推特说。
“保证阿富汗没有使用核武器的军事计划。JCS会辞职，而不是提出那个毫无意义的非法选择，”他后来补充道。
特朗普在2017年8月首次提出了他的阿富汗战略，呼吁结束“国家建设”，转而专注于“杀死恐怖分子”，几个月后，他下令美国将其最大的非核武器——GBU-43/B大规模军械空袭，或称“万能弹之母”(MOAB)——投放到楠格哈尔疑似伊斯兰国激进组织(ISIS)的藏身之处。然而，塔利班的控制只是扩大了，五角大楼支持的政府的控制也减弱了，这不仅引起了美国的担忧，也引起了巴基斯坦等地区国家的担忧。
尽管特朗普和汗过去曾交换过严厉的言辞，美国也因巴基斯坦涉嫌保护激进组织而削减了数百万美元的军事援助，但两位领导人试图重置他们的敌对状态并加强在阿富汗问题上的合作。两人结束谈话时，白宫发布了一份概况介绍，详细介绍特朗普“如何努力在对南亚地区的和平、稳定和繁荣至关重要的问题上加强与巴基斯坦的合作”
中国是美国最大的经济竞争对手，与巴基斯坦关系密切。中国也寻求在阿富汗发挥更大作用。俄罗斯和印度——这两个国家也将强大的冷战时期关系带入了现代——也越来越活跃。本月早些时候，美国、中国和俄罗斯设法搁置了其他地缘政治分歧，并在与伊斯兰堡签署的一份联合声明中表示，他们“欢迎巴基斯坦加入磋商，相信巴基斯坦能够在促进阿富汗和平方面发挥重要作用”。
随着特朗普寻求缩小美国在阿富汗的军事存在，并利用巴基斯坦对塔利班的影响力推进正在进行的和平谈判，更多的地区参与进来。特朗普周一表示，美国“已经”从阿富汗撤出了相当多的军队。
“我们做得非常慢，非常安全。我们正与巴基斯坦合作，并与塔利班谈判。特朗普说:“我们在这方面做得很好。“我们正与巴基斯坦合作寻求解决方案。”
就汗而言，他强调“阿富汗没有军事解决办法”，并指出，“如果你全力以赴，数百万人将会死亡。”
President Donald Trump has claimed that he could win the war in Afghanistan within a week, but such a campaign would kill 10 million people, nearly a third of the population.
"I could win that war in a week," Trump told reporters following talks with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan. "I don't want to kill 10 million people ... Afghanistan could be wiped off the face of the earth. I don't want to go that route ... I have a plan that could win that war in a very short period of time ..."
The U.S.-led war in Afghanistan is the longest conflict in the Pentagon's history, stemming from a 2001 invasion launched in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. The deadly operation was conducted by Islamist militant group Al-Qaeda, an ally of the Taliban group dominating Afghanistan's civil war at the time.
Though the lines of control have ebbed and flowed over the years, the Taliban has staged a comeback and the Trump administration has opted for peace talks that have yet to curb ongoing violence in the war-torn nation.
Afghan policemen arrive near a site of a car bomb attack as smoke rises from the police headquarters in Kandahar province, July 18. Despite peace talks, attacks have continued to rock the war-torn country.JAVED TANVEER/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
The remarks raised concern that Trump may have considered a nuclear option in Afghanistan, a notion that led retired four-star Army General Barry McCaffrey, now a political analyst, to criticize the whole conference on Twitter.
"Troubling listening to Trump Oval Office news conference with Pakistani PM. He [boldly] states that we have analyzed and considered using nuclear weapons to kill millions of people in Afghanistan as a solution to the conflict. WHAT IS TRUMP THINKING?" McCaffrey tweeted.
"GUARANTEE THERE IS NO MILITARY PLAN TO EMPLOY NUCLEAR WEAPONS IN AFGHANISTAN. THE JCS WOULD RESIGN RATHER THAN TEE UP THAT SENSELESS AND ILLEGAL OPTION," he later added.
Trump debuted his strategy for Afghanistan in August 2017, calling for an end to "nation-building" to instead focus on "killing terrorists" months after he ordered the U.S. to drop its largest non-nuclear weapon, the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast, or Mother of All Bombs (MOAB) on suspected Islamic State militant group (ISIS) hideout in Nangarhar. The Taliban's control has only expanded, however, and the Pentagon-backed government's grip has weakened, causing concern not only for the U.S., but regional countries such as Pakistan.
Though Trump and Khan have exchanged harsh words in the past and the U.S. cut millions of dollars in military assistance to Pakistan over its suspected protection of militant groups, the two leaders attempted to reset their hostilities Monday and enhance cooperation over Afghanistan. As pair wrapped up their remarks, the White House sent out issued a fact sheet detailing how Trump "is working to strengthen cooperation with Pakistan on issues that are vital to the peace, stability, and prosperity of the South Asia region."
China, a top U.S. economic rival with close ties to Pakistan, has also sought a greater role in Afghanistan, where Russia and India—two nations also carrying their robust Cold War-era relationship into the modern era—were growing more active as well. The U.S., China and Russia managed to put aside other geopolitical differences earlier this month and said they "welcomed Pakistan joining the consultation and believe that Pakistan can play an important role in facilitating peace in Afghanistan" in a joint statement signed alongside Islamabad.
More regional participation came as Trump looked to scale down the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan and use Pakistan's leverage with the Taliban to advance ongoing peace talks. Trump said Monday that the U.S. has "already withdraw quite" a few troops from Afghanistan.
"We're doing it very slowly, very safely. And we're working with Pakistan and we're negotiating with the Taliban. And we're doing very well in that regard," Trump said. "We are working with Pakistan on getting a solution."
For his part, Khan emphasized that "there is no military solution in Afghanistan," noting that, "if you go all out military, millions and millions of people will die."
