Trump is wrong: His 'new' Afghanistan policy looks like more of the same

US agrees that Taliban can't be rooted out until Pakistan stops lending it a safe haven

Donald Trump surprised international audiences with his announcement that he plans to expand the US military intervention in Afghanistan, without setting an end date. This is a turnaround from Trump’s own campaign rhetoric and Barack Obama’s previous goal of dialling back the US’s military campaign – but on a more fundamental level, it’s a return to business as usual.

One Pakistani journalist described Trump’s move as the start of a “third American-Afghan war”. This marks the US’s third major attempt since September 11, 2001 to deploy the armed forces as their main tool in Afghanistan. Trump’s plan amounts