Trump calls off talks with taliban, peace envoy khalilz ad recalled
SUNNING REVERSAL US prez tweets he scrapped secret talks at Camp David; Taliban warns more Americans will die
WASHINGTON: Us president donald Trump cancelled a secret meeting with the Taliban leaders and the Afghanistan president at his Camp david retreat and called off peace negotiations citing continued bombings by the insurgents.
“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 on Saturday, adding he cancelled the meeting because the taliban sought to build“false leverage” through violence.
Trump referred specifically to a suicide bombing in Kabul on Monday which killed a us soldier and at least 10 others. “I immediately cancelled the meeting and called off peace negotiations ... what kind of people would kills oman yin order to seemingly strengthen their bargaining position ?”
US secretary of state Mike Pompeo suggested in a series morning television interviews on Sunday that the talks were off “for the time being”, adding the onus for the resumption of talks was on the Taliban. “It will ultimate ly be up to the taliban. They have got to demonstrate that they’ repreparedto dothethings that we asked them to do in the course of those negotiations.”
Theus has recalled us special envoy for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad to washington to chart the path forward, Pompeo said.
“We’d made real progressand then the Taliban failed to live up to a series of commitments that they had made. And when that (the attack that killed a US soldier) happened, Presidenttrump said I’m not going to take that deal, I’m not going to work with someone that can’t deliver on their commitments,” Pompeo said. Hours after trump made the surprise announcement, Taliban said the decision will cost more American lives. Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, criticised Trump for calling off the dialogue and said US forces have been pounding afghanistan with attacks at the same time.
“This will lead to more losses totheus,” he said in a statement. “Its credibility will be affected, its anti-peace stance will be exposed to the world, losses to lives and assets will increase.”
The prospect of trump hosting the Taliban at a presidential retreat just two days before the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks that had been planned and carried out by al- Qaeda from Afghanistan had troubled many Americans. “Never shouldleaders of a terrorist organization that hasn’t renounced 9/11 and continues in evil be allowed in our great country ,” wrote republican law maker adam kin zinger wrote on twitter. “NEVER. Full stop.”
Trump probably saw an opportunity to make history there, like the Camp David Accords of 1978, hosted by President Jimmy Carter, that led to the signing of a peace treaty by Israel’s Menachem Begin and Egypt’s Anwar Sadat in 1979, who also went on to win the Nobel. But another Camp David summit in 2000 involving Israel and Palestine this time and hosted by president Bill Clinton ended so badly, the blame game continues to this day. According to the deal reached in principle between the US and the Taliban after nine rounds of talks in Doha, Qatar, the US would have cut its troops in Afghanistan by 5,600 from the current strength of 14,000 over 135 days after the signing of the agreementand shut down five of its bases there.