Afghanistan war getting little notice from Trump White House
WASHINGTON (AP) — Afghanistan, America's longest military fight, is getting little attention so far from the Trump administration despite the protracted struggle to rein in the Taliban and battle a stubborn Islamic State affiliate there.
[...] there's little discussion of a revamped policy to beef up the Afghan security forces as they work to make their country secure.
The Taliban has had "advances and eroded some of our successes," Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said last month in his confirmation hearing, another venue where the Afghanistan conflict attracted scant interest.
In testimony to Congress last September, Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Afghan forces were taking a lot of casualties.
The military says U.S. forces conducted more than 1,000 strikes in Afghanistan last year, including 267 against the Islamic State Khorasan Province group, IS' Afghan affiliate.
The funding would maintain a total of 352,000 Afghan Army troops and police officers.