Cotton: Trump ‘Reached the Right Conclusion’ on Afghanistan – Used ‘Good Policy-Making Process Driven by Gen McMaster’

On Tuesday’s “Hugh Hewitt Show,” Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) praised President Trump’s Afghanistan policy and speech and argued that the US should aim for stability in Afghanistan instead of trying to establish a democracy.

Cotton said, “The president made a good speech, which resulted from a very good policy-making process driven by General McMaster. And I think he reached the right conclusion. We cannot allow Afghanistan either to fall, the way Mosul fell to the Islamic State in 2004, nor can we allow it to be — come under the influence of Iran the way Iraq increasingly has.”

He further said, “Well, the process worked exactly as it should work. The president asked a lot of tough questions, tough questions that the American people are asking. And H.R. McMaster drove a process that included all members of the National Security Council, whether it’s Jim Mattis at Defense, Rex Tillerson at State, Mike Pompeo at CIA, Jeff Sessions at Justice, and so forth. And members of Congress had input where appropriate.”

Cotton also stated that he believes stability in Afghanistan can be achieved and has to be the goal. He added, “We’re not trying to forge a Western European nation-state out of very disparate kinds of tribes and lands. We’re not trying to create a Western, market-based economy. We’re not trying to create a constitutional democracy, as good as all those things are. Those are things for the Afghan people to choose and do among themselves.”

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