Published 11:41 IST, December 1st 2019
How White House kept Trump's Thanksgiving trip to Afghanistan a secret?
The White House devised a story to cover all tracks of Trump's visit to Afghanistan which included no phone calls and scripted tweets according to officials
US President Donald Trump’s visit to Afghanistan has evoked several questions about its secrecy and the unusual procedure that was followed by the White House to keep the visit under wraps. The administrative officials informed that the White House devised a story to cover all his tracks which included no phone calls and scripted tweets while he was travelling to Afghanistan.
How and why Afghanistan's visit was kept undercover?
On November 28, Trump made a surprise visit to Afghanistan’s Bagram military airbase on his first trip to Afghanistan. Stephanie Grisham, who is a White House spokesperson said that the 33-hour round trip was carefully organised by the White House, which took weeks of planning in order to keep it a secret. The information was disclosed shortly after Trump left the Afghanistan military base to return back to the United States.
White House, considering the controversial security lapses during the previous trips, informed only a tight circle of officials about Trump’s visit. Also, to cover the tracks, White House leaked the wrong information and posted false tweets on Twitter. According to the cover-up schedule, Trump travelled to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida and was accompanied by a group of journalists. However, while the journalists waited for Trump to address the troops on the occasion of Thanksgiving through a conference call, they discovered that he had already taken off for Afghanistan last night to meet the soldiers in person.
Grisham cited the reasons for concealing the true movements of Trump and informed the journalist aboard Air Force One that Afghanistan’s Bagram military airbase is located in a dangerous area and Trump wanted to support the soldiers. The second group of reporters assembled near the Joint Base Andrews outside Washington a few hours before the trip and were driven to the complex in minivans. Grisham said that they were informed in advance about the secret visit of Trump to an undisclosed location.
The official and the reporters accompanying Trump on the trip were strictly prohibited from using smartphones or any gadgets that would send signals. Inside the base, the devices were confiscated and were only returned after Trump’s arrival at Bagram, the largest US base in Afghanistan. Due to high-security concerns, the cabin lights were kept off and window blinds stay shut. On the other hand, White House ensured that there was constant activity on Trump’s Twitter account and therefore several Thanksgiving tweets were posted including one extending his gratitude to the armed forces.
After the success of the trip, Trump and White House posted tweets and videos of Trump celebrating Thanksgiving with the troops in Afghanistan in person. Trump’s second visit to a war zone is being considered as one of the accomplishments of the White House.
Updated 12:11 IST, December 1st 2019