Trump Pays Surprise Visit to Afghanistan, Says Taliban Want Deal
World
Asharq Al-Awsat
US President Donald Trump made a surprise visit to Afghanistan, where he announced the US and the Taliban have been engaged in ongoing peace talks and said he believes the Taliban want a cease-fire. Trump arrived at Bagram Air Field on Thursday where he delivered a speech and thanked the troops. He also met with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani before leaving. As per tradition, reporters were under strict instructions to keep the trip a secret to ensure the president’s safety in the country, the Associated Press (AP) reported. First lady Melania Trump did not make the trip. Trump’s first stop was a dining hall, where the crowd erupted into cheers when he arrived. There, he served turkey to soldiers dressed in fatigues and sat down for a meal. During his visit, Trump announced that the US and Taliban have been engaged in peace talks and insisted the Taliban want to make a deal after heavy US fire in recent months. “We’re meeting with them,” he said. “And we’re saying it has to be a cease-fire. And they don’t want to do a cease-fire, but now they do want to do a cease-fire, I believe ... and we’ll see what happens.” The trip came after Trump abruptly broke off peace talks with the Taliban in September, canceling a secret meeting with Taliban and Afghan leaders at the Camp David presidential retreat after a particularly deadly spate of violence, capped by a bombing in Kabul that killed 12 people, including a US soldier. The incident ended a nearly yearlong effort by Washington to reach a political settlement with the Taliban. It was not immediately clear how long or substantive the US reengagement with the Taliban has been. Trump ran his 2016 campaign promising to end the nation’s “endless wars” and has been pushing to withdraw troops from Afghanistan and in the Middle East despite protests from top US officials, Trump’s Republican allies in Washington and many US allies abroad. Today there are about 12,000 US forces in Afghanistan. According to AP, for months now, he has described US forces as “policemen” and argued that other countries’ wars should be theirs to wage. Tens of thousands of Afghan civilians and more than 2,400 US service members have been killed since the war began 18 years ago.
from Asharq AL-awsat https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/2013626/trump-pays-surprise-visit-afghanistan-says-taliban-want-deal
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