美国国防部长马蒂斯正在布鲁塞尔，即将跟北约盟友就各国向阿富汗派兵人数和对阿富汗的其它支持进行协商。马蒂斯不久将宣布他对阿富汗的政策计划。
五角大楼曾保证，要在七月中旬以前提出有关阿富汗的新计划。布鲁金斯学会的高级国防分析师欧汉龙预计，新计划不会彻底改变现有战略，而是对奥巴马政府的阿富汗计划进行调整。
欧汉龙告诉美国之音说：“我认为，马蒂斯和川普其实只是在纠正奥巴马总统犯下的错误而已，在某种程度上，是要比奥巴马更恰当地执行奥巴马当时制定的策略。”
这一策略的重点依然将是让阿富汗部队担负主要保安职责。这是奥巴马政府2013年6月以来在阿富汗军事行动的一个关键点。但是欧汉龙解释说，他认为，奥巴马将美国派往阿富汗的部队人数从2011年5月的10万人在四年多的时间里减少到不足1万人，是一个错误的决定。
欧汉龙说：“这样做步子太快，留下的兵力也太少。只要恢复几千人的兵力，我们就能让军事顾问回到阿富汗一些重要的军事部门，希望能借此稳定住局势。”
美国国防部长马蒂斯在参加北约国防部长会议前，预计将于阿富汗国际部队指挥官约翰·尼克尔森上将会面，要求一些盟友增强对阿富汗支持的力度。
五角大楼发言人怀特上星期告诉美国之音说：“我们必须想想看，他们还能在哪些方面出力。大家都希望知道接下来会发生什么，但是国防部长马蒂斯非常慎重，要考虑到战地指挥官到底需要什么，如何做才能扭转局面。”
U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is in Brussels, where he will consult with NATO allies on troop contributions and other support for Afghanistan, before announcing his own policy plan for the war-torn country.
The Pentagon has promised a new Afghanistan plan by mid-July, and Michael O’Hanlon, a senior defense analyst at the Brookings Institution, expects the new plan will not be a “repeal and replace” strategy, but rather a reformation of the Obama administration’s plan.
“Mattis and Trump are just repairing a mistake, in effect, that I think President Barack Obama made. And it is, in a sense, more properly carrying out Obama’s own strategy than Obama himself did,” O’Hanlon told VOA.
The strategy will still focus on Afghan troops taking the lead on security in the country, a critical point in the Obama administration’s military efforts since June 2013. But O’Hanlon explains why he thinks the past president made a mistake when he cut American military support in the country from about 100,000 U.S. troops in May 2011 to fewer than 10,000 American troops over a four-year span.
“That was probably too fast and too low, so by restoring just a few thousand more, I think we can get advisers out in the field with some of the key Afghan units and hopefully really stabilize the situation,” O’Hanlon said.
Mattis is expected to meet with General John Nicholson, the commander of international forces in Afghanistan, ahead of the NATO defense ministers meeting, where he will press some allies to increase their commitments to Afghanistan.
“We have to think about what else they can bring to bear to help,” Chief Pentagon spokesperson Dana White told VOA last week. “I know everyone wants to know what’s going to happen, but the secretary is being very deliberative and very thoughtful about what the commanders need and what’s necessary to change the tide.”