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US/AFGHANISTAN
DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Trump’s war plan involves more troops Brendan Smialowski / AFP/Getty Images
An estimated 3,900 extra soldiers to be deployed By Lolita C. Baldor and Matthew Pennington ASSOCIATED PRE SS
Mark Wilson / Getty Images
U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks on America’s military involvement in Afghanistan at the Fort Myer military base on Monday in Arlington, Virginia.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s plan to end America’s longest war and eliminate Afghanistan’s rising extremist threat involves sending up to 3,900 additional U.S. troops, senior officials said Tuesday. The first deployments could take place within days. In a national address Monday night, Trump reversed his past calls for a speedy exit and
recommitted the United States to the 16-year-old conflict, saying U.S. troops must “fight to win.” He warned against repeating what he said were mistakes in Iraq, where an American military withdrawal led to a vacuum that the Islamic State group quickly filled. Trump would not confirm how many more service members he plans to send to Afghanistan, which may be the public’s most pressing question about his strategy. In interTroops continues on A12
Nuclear crisis fades as optimism grows TRIBUNE WASHINGTON
WALL CAUSES DIVISION BETWEEN AGENTS, COMMUNITY Leaked plans bring hundreds to protest By Aaron Nelsen SA N A NT ONI O E XPRE SS-NEWS
Border continues on A12
Tillerson hints ‘restraint’ in NKorea
By Tracy Wilkinson
BORDER SECURITY
WESLACO — No cement has been poured nor bollard thrust into the ground, and yet President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful” wall has driven a wedge between the Border Patrol and communities on the border. During a recent stakeholder meeting intended to strengthen relations with farmers, border agents fielded hard questions about the fate of properties and livelihoods in the path of Trump’s wall. “The average American does not understand that we’d be giving up our sovereign territory,” said Foss Jones, 68, whose family farms would be cleaved, leaving hundreds of acres pinched between the wall and the Rio Grande. “Who will feel safe in that no man’s land behind the wall?” Earlier this month, Border Patrol maps depicting plans to build 32 miles of fencing in Starr County and 28 miles of levee wall in neighboring Hidalgo County were leaked to
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson pauses before speaking during a briefing at the Department of State on Tuesday in Washington, D.C.
Photos by Bob Owen / San Antonio Express-News
A U.S. Customs and Border Protection river boat agent patrols the banks of the Rio Grande River at the Santa Anna National Wildlife Refuge near Hidalgo, Texas on Aug. 17.
BUREAU
WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Tuesday voiced a rare note of optimism in the North Korea nuclear crisis, saying ruler Kim Jong Un may be showing signs of restraint that could lead to dialogue. Tillerson noted that North Korea had not launched a ballistic missile nor done other "provocative acts" since the United Nations Security Council voted unanimously Aug. 5 to impose blistering economic sanctions on Pyongyang. "I’m pleased to see that the regime in Pyongyang has certainly demonstrated some level of restraint that we’ve not seen in the past," Tillerson said in a briefing with reporters at the State Department convened primarily to discuss the Trump administration’s plans for Afghanistan. He expressed hope that such restraint was "the beginning of this signal that we’ve been looking for." "Perhaps we are seeing our pathway to some time in the near future to having some dialogue," Tillerson said, adding that he still wanted to see more signs but also thought it important to acknowledge the steps taken. Though sanctions have been used repeatedly to punish and isolate North Korea over the last two decades, the U.N. package was described as the most severe. If enforced, the penalties could cut that country’s export income by one-third, around $1 billion. Before the U.N. Security Tillerson continues on A12