MATTIS: 'We are not winning' in Afghanistan
"We are not winning in Afghanistan right now. And we will correct this as soon as possible," Mattis said in testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee.
In February, Army Gen. John Nicholson, the top US commander in Afghanistan, told Congress that thousands of more troops were needed in part because outside powers have increased their meddling in Afghanistan in the last year, making it tougher for the US-backed government in Kabul to quell the violence.
Nicholson has also described the situation in Afghanistan as a stalemate, but the Institute for the Study of War has characterized it as a detiorating situation. The Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction also released a report in April showing how bad the situation is.
For more than a month, the Trump administration has been considering sending up to 5,000 additional troops to Afghanistan to advise Afghan military and police units fighting the Taliban, as well as an unspecified number of special operations forces to fight ISIS and al-Qaida militants along the Pakistani border.
Trump was expected to make a decision on the matter during his NATO security summit in Brussels on May 25, but his administration is reportedly split on what to do.
Mattis and Lt. Gen. HR McMaster both support a troop surge in Afghanistan. But Trump's chief strategist, Stephen Bannon, sees this move as akin to nation building, the New York Times reported. Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, is also reportedly critical of US policy in Afghanistan.
Going on 16 years now, the war in Afghanistan is the longest running war in American history. More than 2,200 US troops have died, and more than 20,000 more have been wounded.
There are currently over 10,000 US troops deployed in the country, and the US is spending $3.1 billion per month there.