Too early to Speak about Resumption of Talks with US: Taliban
The Taliban said Friday it was “way too early” to speak of resuming direct talks with Washington, a day after President Donald Trump confirmed negotiations to end America’s longest war, were back on track during a surprise visit to Afghanistan.
The Taliban said Friday it was “way too early” to speak of resuming direct talks with Washington, a day after President Donald Trump confirmed negotiations to end America’s longest war, were back on track during a surprise visit to Afghanistan.
“We’re meeting with them and we’re saying it has to be a ceasefire,” he told reporters during the visit to mark the Thanksgiving holiday with troops at Bagram air field.
Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid, meanwhile, said that it is too early to speak of resuming talks with America.
“It is way too early to talk about the resumption of talks for now,” the insurgent spokesman told AFP, adding that the Islamist group would give an official reaction later.
Last month, Trump abruptly called the peace talks with Taliban “dead”, and withdrew an invitation to the insurgents to meet in the United States due to the killing of an American soldier.
“We were getting close and we pulled back. We didn’t want to do it because of what they did,” Trump said at Bagram during a meeting with Afghan president Ashraf Ghani, referring to the death of the soldier.
“Since then, we’ve hit them so hard, they’ve never been hit this hard,” he added.
This comes as the Taliban last week handed over two hostages — an American and an Australian — after three years in captivity in exchange for three high-ranking Haqqani members, a move seen as a boost to resuming negotiations.
