Trump campaigned for office promising to get the US “out of the nation-building business” but was persuaded by his advisers to increase the number of troops in Afghanistan in 2017. The Taliban would agree to renounce al-Qaida, fight the Islamic State group and stop jihadists from using the south Asian country as a safe haven. Most of the terms of the provisional peace agreement are classified but it would include the withdrawal of 5,000 American soldiers from five bases across Afghanistan by early next year. The Camp David talks would have been held three days short of the anniversary of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks by al-Qaida militants who were being harboured in Afghanistan by the then ruling Taliban regime, the justification for the US-led invasion of the country a few weeks later. It also emphasises just how much faith the US president puts in personal diplomacy, even with people previous heads of state would have avoided meeting for fear of granting them legitimacy – now apparently including members of a militant group the US government officially classifies as terrorists.Īmerican negotiators have reached an “agreement in principle” with Taliban leaders over nine rounds of talks in Qatar aimed at facilitating the withdrawal of the roughly 13,000 US troops who remain in Afghanistan nearly 18 years since the military campaign commenced. But their abrupt apparent cancellation leaves a question mark over the future of peace talks intended to bring American involvement in Afghanistan to an end, an early Trump campaign pledge. The existence of the planned talks has yet to be confirmed by either the US state department or the Taliban, despite drawing reaction from the Afghan government. How many more decades are they willing to fight?- Donald J. only made it worse! If they cannot agree to a ceasefire during these very important peace talks, and would even kill 12 innocent people, then they probably don’t have the power to negotiate a meaningful agreement anyway. Ghani’s office also “insisted that a real peace can only be achieved if the Taliban stop killing Afghans and accept a ceasefire, and face-to-face talks with the Afghan government”, according to a statement.
The office of the Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani, cautiously saluted the “sincere efforts of its allies” after Trump cancelled the meetings. If the Taliban “had accepted peace, they should have announced a ceasefire and then the talks should have moved forward”, he added. “It is good that the talks have been cancelled, there should be intra-Afghan talks, and people should be involved in it, and they should be informed about it,” 52-year-old Mir Dil said. In the streets of Kabul on Sunday, some residents approved of Trump’s move to suspend the plan, at least. While Pompeo insisted that peace talks would not continue unless the terms would protect US interests and safety – such as reductions in violence – he indicated that the White House was willing to revisit negotiations, saying, “I am confident President Trump will continue the process.”Īfghans cautiously welcomed the halt to any secret US-Taliban summit and appeared reluctant to support such talks at all with the US. “We’ve been working on this peace and reconciliation program for some time,” Pompeo told CNN’s State of the Union political talk program on Sunday morning.
The US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, defended the secretive meeting and said plans to bring the Taliban to Camp David had been at play for “a while”. “If they cannot agree to a ceasefire during these very important peace talks, and would even kill 12 innocent people, then they probably don’t have the power to negotiate a meaningful agreement anyway.”
#Kill dil series
In a series of tweets, Trump also wrote: “What kind of people would kill so many in order to seemingly strengthen their bargaining position?” Trump wrote, accusing Taliban leaders of trying to build leverage ahead of Sunday’s talks. Never should leaders of a terrorist organization that hasn’t renounced 9/11 and continues in evil be allowed in our great country.