The United States is working on an agreement now with the Taliban, President Donald Trump said on Friday.
“We ‘re working on an agreement now with the Taliban. Let’s see what happens,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News.
US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad had held a year of talks with the Taliban to end the war in the country before they were halted by Trump in September.
In the interview, Trump said that he had cancelled a planned meeting with the Taliban after they “killed 12 people in order to show they are tough guys.” A planned meeting with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani had also been cancelled at the time.
“The last time I was supposed to have an agreement, then they thought when they came over, they thought it would be good to kill people so they could negotiate from a position of strength,” Trump said in the interview.
“Anyway, I’m pulling back. I just pulled out of Syria, except I kept the oil,” Trump said.
Trump’s comments come after the Taliban released US and Australian hostages and 10 Afghan soldiers following the release of three of their high-profile prisoners.
Earlier, Trump expressed hope that their release “leads to more good things on the peace front like a ceasefire that will help this long war.”
In a phone call with President Ghani on Thursday, Trump invitedhim to visit US, according to a statement from Ghani’s office.
