John Kirby: ‘It Bothers Me’ That Trump’s Afghanistan Speech Is Being Given at Fort Myer

On Monday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Situation Room,” CNN Military and Diplomatic Analyst Rear Admiral John Kirby (Ret.), who served as Spokesperson for the State Department and the Department of Defense during the Obama administration, stated that he is bothered that President Trump’s Afghanistan speech is being given at Fort Myer.

Kirby said that there has to be more than just a troop announcement and there needs to be a “larger strategic end state here that we’re driving at in Afghanistan.”

He added that a few thousand more troops won’t change anything, and that troop numbers, counterterrorism, and training are important, there has to be a larger strategy that doesn’t just involve the military. Kirby continued, “It bothers me a little bit that the speech is happening at Fort Myer. Because it shouldn’t just be about the military. What we do in Afghanistan, the long-term future that we see, really has to be more diplomatic, more economic, more political.”

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