Bob Woodward opens this chapter by mentioning Afghanistan. In this part, Trump learns that there are sought after natural resources and minerals in Afghanistan and the Afghan President is offering them to the US, free of charge. This is a development that makes Trump jumpy and gives him high expectations (Woodward 257), seeing as it is Trump’s not so secret desire to have other nations pay for military and defense expenses. He pushes his advisers, asking them to find a way of mining the mineral. However, many seem opposed to the suggestion since it is almost impossible at the current state. Nonetheless, the Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross volunteers and Trump approves immediately (Woodward 258). Conversely, McMaster claims that most of the minerals are impossible to reach since they are found in Taliban-controlled areas. He thinks that the process may take up to 10 years before the US benefits (Woodward 258).

Regarding the war, the General on the ground in Afghanistan keeps on saying that he can win the war effort. On the contrary, things are not going on well as expected. It is getting worse each day and they are on the verge of drought and suffering a crisis on food security (Woodward 259). The number of refugees continues to increase daily as people come from Pakistan into Afghanistan. Despite all these issues, it is impossible for McMaster to criticize the ground commander for claiming that he can win, due to Trumps continued rhetoric that follows the same lines. Trump then lashes out again and blames Bush for the wars and the countries current situation, saying that Bush wanted to police the world by implementing democracy everywhere (Woodward 260).