Trump: I could win Afghan war 'in a week' but toll would be too high

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump asserted Monday he could win the war in Afghanistan “in a week,” but does not “want to go that route” because of the potential for mass casualties.

“If we wanted to fight a war in Afghanistan and win it, I could win that war in a week. I just don't want to kill 10 million people,” Trump told reporters at the White House at the top of a meeting with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Trump, in a nearly 40-minute question-and-answer session with reporters, said Afghanistan “would be wiped off the face of the Earth” in 10 days if he deployed a military plan at his disposal.

The commander in chief also said “maybe” he’ll tune into special counsel Robert Mueller’s congressional testimony on Wednesday, after  first saying he had no plans to watch.  He also weighed in on the days of protests in Puerto Rico, calling the island’s governor, “terrible.”

Trump’s meeting with Khan was widely regarded as the first step in mending strained relationships that  had grown increasingly rocky after the United States captured and killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden during a raid on his Pakistan compound in 2011, without first alerting Pakistani officials.

Trump told Khan he saw “tremendous potential” between the two countries, and said Pakistan would help “extricate” the U.S. military from its involvement in Afghanistan.

 He argued that the United States was in essence merely policing Afghanistan, “and we’re not supposed to be policemen.”

“We’ve been there for 19 years in Afghanistan,” Trump said of the long-standing U.S. presence in the country in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. “It’s ridiculous, and I think Pakistan helps us with that because we don't want to stay as policemen.”

Amid mounting tensions with Iran, Trump stopped short of signaling his plans when asked if the United States was closer to engaging in diplomatic talks with Iran or inching closer to war.

“I think Iran doesn’t know where they are,” Trump said. “I’ve been watching and reading a lot of reports. Right now, they’re a very mixed-up country. They don’t know whether they’re coming or going ... They have a lot of problems. Whatever it is, I’m just going to sit back and look. We’ll see what happens.” 

Asked if he planned  to watch Mueller testify before two House panels on Wednesday, Trump said he would not watch, before adding, “probably, maybe I’ll see a little bit.”

“I’m not going to be watching Mueller because you can’t take all those bites out of the apple,” said Trump, who has argued congressional Democrats  were attempting a “do-over” of Mueller’s 22-month-long investigation into Russian election interference and alleged acts by the president to obstruct the investigation.

When asked if Puerto Rican Gov. Ricardo Roselló should resign in response to widespread protests demanding his ouster, Trump called Roselló “terrible” and complained that the U.S. commonwealth had mismanaged federal disaster relief funds  after two deadly hurricanes battered the island in 2017.

“You have totally grossly incompetent leadership at the top of Puerto Rico,” Trump said of Rosellóo, who has been rejecting calls to step down after leaked text messages with his inner circle exposed a series of offensive messages.