In a televised prime-time speech delivered on Monday, President Donald Trump addressed the war in Afghanistan, announcing a renewed American commitment signaling a significant about-face from the positions he espoused during the election campaign. Although POTUS offered little in the way of details, his call to carry-on, waging a “fight to win” was a stark reversal of candidate Trump’s frequent admonishments to quickly pack up and leave Afghanistan delivered while on the campaign trail. Speaking to a military audience at a base near the capital, the president distinguished his plan, explaining that, “we’re not nation-building; we’re killing terrorists.” His refusal to set a deadline or offer milestones was a notable shift from the previous administration and his reference to “nation-building” is the source of the endless spending about which he was so critical in the past. In his speech, the president cautioned that American support for fighting the Taliban “is not a blank check.” There are 8,400 American troops presently in Afghanistan and reports from Washington indicate that the president has agreed to okay at least 4,000 more. The president also ruffled Pakistani feathers when he accused it of continuing to offer safe havens for terrorists, a warning backed-up by officials who said failure to cooperate will cost Pakistan security assistance from Washington. In Islamabad, Pakistani officials insisted that “there are no terrorist hideouts in Pakistan.” The Trump initiative allows the US military to target both terrorist and criminal operations in Afghanistan. US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Monday that the new strategy leaves the door open for the Taliban to negotiate with the Afghan government.