US resume talks with Taliban insurgents, says Trump
US President Donald Trump said that United States has resumed talks with Taliban insurgents as he made an unannounced trip to Afghanistan to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday with US troops.
In his first trip to the site of America’s longest war, Trump arrived at Bagram Air Field last evening and spent more than two-and-a-half hours on the ground. He thanked the troops and met Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. He told reporters that the Taliban wants to make a deal, and they are meeting with them. President Trump said, he has restarted peace negotiations with Taliban after he scuttled talks in September.
US President reaffirmed his desire to reduce the American troop presence in Afghanistan to 8,600, down from about 13,000.
Trump ran his 2016 campaign promising to end the nation’s “endless wars”. Tens of thousands of Afghan civilians and more than 2,400 American service members have been killed since the war began 18 years ago. Mr Trump’s visit happened weeks after the Taliban freed two Western academics who had been held hostage since 2016 in exchange for three imprisoned senior militants.
