Alghadeer TV Alghadeer TV
US President Donald Trump has called off peace talks with the Taliban, after the militant group claimed responsibility for a deadly strike that killed American soldier and 11 other people in Afghanistan’s capital of Kabul.
The American head of state announced the decision on Sunday, saying he was planning to secretly meet the Taliban’s “major leaders” on Sunday at a presidential compound in Camp David, Maryland.
Trump said he was also scheduled to to meet with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.
However, he decided to call off the talks after the militants claimed the deadly attack on Thusday.
“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,” Trump wrote in a tweet.
Taliban fighters, who today control the most territory they have ever had since the beginning of the US invasion of the county in 2001, have launched deadly operations against the northern cities of Kunduz and Pul-e Khumri over the past week while also targeting civilians in two major suicide bombings in Kabul.
One of the blasts, a suicide attack in Kabul on Thursday, killed US Army Sergeant 1st Class Elis A. Barreto Ortiz, 34, from Puerto Rico, bringing the number of American troops killed in Afghanistan this year to 16.
A spike in attacks by Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan has been “particularly unhelpful” to peace efforts there, a senior US military commander said on Saturday as he visited neighboring Pakistan, where many Taliban militants are based.
The development comes at the heels of a an important milestone in the months-long peace talks between American and Taliban representatives in the Qatari capital, Doha.
Earlier this week, the two sides agreed on a draft peace deal which could lead to a substantial withdrawal of American troops from the longest ever US war in exchange for guarantees from the Taliban to never let Afghanistan become a platform for attacks against he US and its allies.
