Iran Press/Asia: Donald Trump paid an unannounced Thanksgiving visit to American troops in Afghanistan on Thursday and claimed that he had reopened peace negotiations with the Taliban less than three months after scuttling talks.
“The Taliban wants to make a deal, and we’re meeting with them,” Trump claimed during a meeting with Afghanistan’s president, Ashraf Ghani at the main base for American forces north of Kabul, The New York Times reported.
“We’re going to stay until such time as we have a deal, or we have total victory,” Trump added while alleging that he wants to reduce the American military presence to 8,600 troops, down from about 12,000 to 13,000.
Trump’s sudden announcement on peace talks came at a critical moment in the United States’ long, drawn-out military venture in Afghanistan, a time when the country is mired in turmoil over disputed election results and Americans at home are increasingly tired of an operation that began shortly after the Sept. 11.
The scope and prospects of any renewed negotiations remained unclear, and White House officials gave few details beyond Trump’s sudden revelation.
The Taliban made no official comment immediately after the late-night visit and Ghani said little afterward about any peace talks.
“Both sides underscored that if the Taliban are sincere in their commitment to reaching a peace deal, they must accept a ceasefire,” Ghani wrote on Twitter.
“We also emphasized that for any peace to last, terrorist safe havens outside Afghanistan must be dismantled.”
But while the Afghan government has long demanded that the Taliban agree to a cease-fire, no evidence has emerged that the group was willing to grant one.
Instead, it has said it would discuss the possibility in negotiations with Afghanistan’s political leaders over the future of the country once the Americans agree to leave.
Trump made the visit, his first to Afghanistan, under a shroud of secrecy, arriving in a darkened airplane just after 8:30 p.m. local time and departing a few hours later on a trip that the White House had concealed from his public schedule for security reasons.
He is seeking a deal that centers on US troop reductions in return for several security guarantees from the Taliban, as well as broader peace talks between the insurgents and the Afghan government and an eventual ceasefire.
Still, even if many of the 13,000 or so US troops in Afghanistan leave soon after a final deal, President Trump said earlier that America would maintain a permanent presence - with 8,600 troops initially.
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