Here's how Trump's position on Afghanistan has shifted over time

America's longest war is going to get longer after President Trump late Monday outlined a strategy for the U.S. military in Afghanistan that gives the Pentagon the authority to increase troop levels and "fight to win" the nearly 16-year-old conflict.

In a televised address, Trump admitted his initial instinct was to withdraw U.S. forces from the country. Instead, he unveiled a "path forward" mostly at odds with what he has been saying about Afghanistan for years.

Here's a snapshot of Trump's past positions delivered via his favored medium, Twitter.

October 2011

February 2012

August 2012

January 2013

November 2013

December 2014

December 2015

August 2017

Trump has mentioned "Afghanistan" in 48 tweets since 2011, according to the Trump Twitter Archive website, which has a searchable database. Overall, these tweets question the wisdom and purpose of U.S. involvement in Afghanistan.

Still, in his address Monday night he appeared to move beyond that when he conceded that troop withdrawal could lead to a security vacuum filled by terrorist groups including the Islamic State. However, Trump has consistently painted a confused picture of his thoughts on Afghanistan. In an interview with CNN in 2015, he said the U.S. "made a terrible mistake getting involved there in the first place. We had real brilliant thinkers that didn't know what the hell they were doing. And it's a mess. It's a mess."

Yet in the same interview he said that "at this point, you probably have to (stay in Afghanistan) because that thing will collapse about two seconds after they leave. Just as I said that Iraq was going to collapse after we leave."

In a subsequent interview with CNN, Trump denied saying the U.S. should never have gotten involved in Afghanistan. Trump said he had been talking about the war in Iraq, a position not supported by his public comments on the matter.

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