No more peace talks with Afghanistan, says Trump

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump has said that he canceled peace talks with Taliban and Afghanistan’s leader after the insurgent group claimed responsibility last week for an attack in Kabul that killed an American soldier and 11 other people.

Donald Trump made the announcement in a series of tweets on Sunday, saying that he has called off peace negotiations with Afghan and Taliban leaders.  The secret meeting was scheduled for Sunday at Camp David in Maryland.

According to Trump, he immediately called the talks off when the insurgents said that they were responsible behind the attack. The talks had appeared to be on the brink of a landmark deal to bring an end to 18 years of war.

Unbeknownst to almost everyone, the major Taliban leaders and, separately, the President of Afghanistan, were going to secretly meet with me at Camp David on Sunday. They were coming to the United States tonight. Unfortunately, in order to build false leverage, they admitted to..

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 7, 2019

….an attack in Kabul that killed one of our great great soldiers, and 11 other people. I immediately cancelled the meeting and called off peace negotiations. What kind of people would kill so many in order to seemingly strengthen their bargaining position? They didn’t, they….

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 7, 2019

….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. How many more decades are they willing to fight?

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 7, 2019

The announcement left in doubt the future of the draft accord worked out last week by Zalmay Khalilzad, the special US diplomat for peace in Afghanistan, for a drawdown of thousands of US troops over the coming months.

Under the draft accord, some 5,000 US troops would be withdrawn over the coming months in exchange for guarantees Afghanistan would not be used as a base for militant attacks on the United States and its allies.