President Donald Trump mentioned Saturday that Taliban leaders had been to journey to the US for secret peace talks this weekend however that the meeting has been canceled and he is referred to as off peace talks with the militant group totally. Trump tweeted that he scrapped the meeting after the Taliban took credit score for an assault in Kabul, Afghanistan, that killed a dozen folks, including an American soldier.
Inviting Taliban leaders onto American soil is an unprecedented transfer and a big improvement in America’s longest operating conflict simply days from the anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist assaults.
It comes after Trump mentioned as just lately as late final month that he’s planning to withdraw 1000’s of US forces from Afghanistan however will keep 8,600 troops in the country not less than in the intervening time. It’s not clear if Trump’s Saturday night time announcement will influence that plan.
“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,” Trump tweeted Saturday night time.
Trump claimed that earlier than touring to the US on Saturday night, “Unfortunately, in order to build false leverage, they admitted to……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,” Trump added.CNN army analyst John Kirby, a retired Navy rear admiral and former State Department and Pentagon spokesman, referred to as the information “stunning,” saying this could give the Taliban “a boost of political legitimacy that they don’t deserve at this stage in negotiations and would be a huge propaganda victory for them, not to mention a slap at the Afghan government and President Ghani.”