On 21 August, US President Donald Trump announced that he had changed his mind about the war in Afghanistan, and suggested that he would commit more troops to the conflict. Trump said that while his "original instinct was to pull out", he has since changed his mind after studying "Afghanistan in great detail and from every conceivable angle". This represents quite a change of heart from the 71-year-old, who for many years has been calling for the US to leave Afghanistan, describing the conflict as a "total disaster".