Trump Back in Florida After Quick Afghanistan Trip
- by Ernesto Newman
- in World
- — Dec 2, 2019
"It's got to be a real deal, but we'll see", Trump said after he arrived in Afghanistan on Thanksgiving.
The Taliban said they would be willing to continue talking, even as Afghanistan headed toward heavily contested presidential elections that Ghani hoped would strengthen his hand in direct government talks with the militants.
But after secretly planning a meeting with Taliban negotiators at Camp David to seal the deal, Trump suddenly canceled the agreement and negotiations altogether, saying that "as far as I'm concerned, they're dead".
United States officials offered little evidence that full-fledged negotiations had resumed. Last week the Taliban released hostages American Kevin King and Australian Timothy Week to USA forces in southern Afghanistan.
Trump made the unannounced visit Thursday, telling soldiers at Bagram Air Field: 'There is nowhere that I'd rather celebrate this Thanksgiving than right here with the toughest, strongest best and bravest warriors on the face of the Earth'.
"It's a unsafe area and he wants to support the troops", Grisham said. Release of an American and Australian hostages by the Taliban in exchange for three high ranking prisoners have brightened the prospects of peace talks.
This time, Grisham said the White House made arrangements to ensure continuity in the president's Twitter account, which posted happy Thanksgiving tweets as he was in the air, including one thanking the military.
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Trump told the troops stationed at Bagram that the war in Afghanistan "will not be decided on the battlefield" but by the people of the region with a political solution.
In September the United States dropped more munitions on Afghanistan than in any other month since 2010. "It will probably work out that way", he added.
But the Taliban have consistently refused and kept up a campaign of bloody attacks, meaning a ceasefire would mark a major concession. Trump has made clear to his advisers that he wants to pull all USA troops out of Afghanistan by the 2020 election, NBC News reported in August. Suhail Shaheen, a member of the Taliban's negotiating team, said it was up to the U.S.to come back to the table if they want to re-engage.
A draft accord agreed in September would have thousands of American troops withdrawn in exchange for guarantees that Afghanistan would not be used as a base for militant attacks on the USA or its allies.
The deal is not believed to have required a ceasefire - much to the disappointment of Ghani s government.
Iran's Press TV reported that Zarif conveyed to the Taliban his country's support for "any effort by various Afghan forces to find common ground for cooperation towards paving the way for the departure of all foreign forces from Afghanistan" as an outcome of intra-Afghan reconciliation talks.
He also said he would like to reduce the number of US troops in Afghanistan.
