Trump not content on continuing Afghan war as before: Tillerson

AVA- The president is not willing to accept that, so he is asking some tough questions,” Tillerson told reporters on the sidelines of a regional security forum in Philippine capital.

According to the top U.S. diplomat, U.S. National Security Council has met three times on the Afghan issue.

“The president is asking some very, very pointed questions, and I think good questions that he should be asking,” he said.

“And perhaps these are questions that no-one has been willing to raise in the past,” he continued.

“So we want to give him good thorough answers and good thorough analysis to go with that – a very clear-eyed view, a very realistic view of what the future is likely to look like.”

It has been more than six months since Trump took office as new U.S. president, but he has yet to announce strategy on Afghanistan.

Terming the situation in Afghanistan as a “stalemate”, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan has called for thousands more troops in the country.

However, Trump’s security team is divided on whether to send more troops or pull out. Some advisers have suggested sending private military contractors to replace troops.

“How does this all play out and where does this go?” Tillerson asked. “It’s one thing to say we‘re just going to keep fighting because there’s no other options. There are always other options.”

“And so that’s what the president’s asked us to fully explore.”