US President Donald Trump on Saturday said he cancelled peace talks with Afghan Taliban leaders after the group carried out a deadly attack in Kabul last week.
Trump revealed on Twitter that major Taliban leaders and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani were going to secretly meet him at Camp David on Sunday, but he cancelled the meetings.
“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,” Trump said.
“I immediately cancelled the meeting and called off peace negotiations. What kind of people would kill so many in order to seemingly strengthen their bargaining position?
“They didn’t, they only made it worse! 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. How many more decades are they willing to fight?”
The announcement comes after US top negotiator Zalmay Khalilzad said that he had reached an agreement in principle with the Taliban, following multiple rounds of talks that started a year ago.
Under the deal, the US would withdraw thousands of troops from Afghanistan in exchange for Taliban commitment not to allow terrorist groups to launch attacks on US and its allies.
