Trump seeks Pakistan's help to end long war

China Daily | Updated: 2019-07-24 07:23

WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump claimed on Monday that he could end the nearly two-decade old war in Afghanistan in a matter of days, but it would kill millions of people and wipe the country "off the face of the earth".

The president made the statement at the White House as he praised Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan and sought his help in negotiating a peace deal in neighboring Afghanistan.

"I could win that war in a week. I just don't want to kill 10 million people," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. "If I wanted to win that war, Afghanistan would be wiped off the face of the earth. It would be gone. It would be over, literally, in 10 days."

Warming up to Khan marked a turnaround for Trump, who has been sharply critical of Pakistan and now hopes Khan's government will use its influence with the Taliban to advance a peace deal and help the United States withdraw from the nearly two-decade old war.

The war began when the US hunted al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and his Taliban supporters in Afghanistan following the Sept 11, 2001, terrorist plane attacks in the US. Sitting alongside Khan, Trump said he wanted a peaceful resolution. "So we're working with Pakistan and others to extricate ourselves."

The pleasantries in the Oval Office were an abrupt change from when Trump cut millions of dollars in aid to Pakistan, saying the only thing it offered the US was "lies" and "deceit".

Khan has bashed Trump too, but now says Pakistan is also eager to work to end the war. The US wants Pakistan to use its leverage to get the Taliban to agree to a cease-fire, negotiate with the Afghan government and stop harboring militant groups.

US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad has been holding talks with the Taliban for months, but so far the militant group has refused to talk directly to the Afghan government. There has been no letup in terrorist attacks during the US-Taliban talks.

"It's the closest we've been to a peace deal," Khan told Trump. "And I hope in the coming days we will be able to urge the Taliban to speak to the Afghan government and come to a political solution."

As the war has dragged on, relations between the US and Pakistan have gone up and down. They reached rock bottom under former president Barack Obama when the US carried out the raid on bin Laden's compound in Pakistan without giving Islamabad a heads-up. The relationship didn't improve when Trump took office.

In January 2018, Trump tweeted: "The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than $33 billion in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools. They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help."

Khan, who assumed office last fall, has fired back.

He tweeted that Pakistan has suffered 75,000 casualties and lost $123 billion in the "US War on Terror", although no Pakistanis were involved in the Sept 11 attacks. He said the US has only provided a "minuscule" $20 billion in aid.

Agencies