Trump: Afghanistan Could Be 'Wiped Off' the Planet in Days

The commander-in-chief made a bold pronouncement Monday: "If I wanted to win that war, Afghanistan would be wiped off the face of the Earth. It would be gone. It would be over in, literally in 10 days ... I don’t want to go that route." The comments came during an Oval Office meeting with Pakistani Prime Minster Imran Khan; USA Today reports the two leaders' countries have been working toward the route Trump does want to take: lowering the current US troop level in Afghanistan. Right now, it's at about 14,000, and Trump expressed that he believes Pakistan can use the relationship it has with the Taliban to "help us out to extricate ourselves" from the country, reports the AP.

Politico reports Trump referred to "plans" that would allow him to win the war but explained "I just don't want to kill 10 million people." He criticized "our leadership" for getting in a 19-year-long situation that currently has our troops focused on "building gas stations" and "rebuilding schools. ... The United States, we shouldn't be doing that. That’s for them to do." The AP describes the relationship between the US and Pakistan as a "yo-yo" that hit a low point when former President Obama ordered a raid on Osama bin Laden's compound without first communicating with Pakistan. But it sees Pakistan as wanting "to reset relations with the US in hopes of securing more investment, trade, and possibly a restoration of American aid that Trump cut" in the face of the country's economic hardship. (More President Trump stories.)