Trump cancels Taliban meeting at Camp David

WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump said he had canceled a secret weekend meeting at Camp David, Maryland, with the Taliban and Afghan government leaders after a bombing in the past week in Kabul killed 12 people, including a US soldier. He then called off peace negotiations with the insurgent group.

Trump's tweet on Saturday evening had been surprising because it would mean that he was ready to host members of the Taliban at the presidential retreat in Maryland just days before the anniversary of the Sept 11, 2001, attacks. More than 2,400 US troops have been killed since the United States invaded Afghanistan to pursue the Taliban, which were harboring al-Qaida leaders responsible for the 9/11 attacks in the US.

Canceling the talks also goes against Trump's pledge to withdraw the remaining 13,000 to 14,000 US troops from Afghanistan and end US involvement in a conflict that is closing in on 18 years.

Zalmay Khalilzad, the Trump administration's diplomat who has been talking to the Taliban leaders for months, has said recently that he was on the "threshold" of an agreement with the Taliban aimed at ending Washington's longest war. The US president, however, has been under pressure from the Afghan government and some US lawmakers, including Trump supporter Senator Lindsey Graham, who mistrust the Taliban and think it's too early to withdraw US forces.

"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. "They were coming to the United States tonight. Unfortunately, in order to build false leverage, they admitted to an attack in Kabul that killed one of our great great soldiers, and 11 other people. I immediately canceled the meeting and called off peace negotiations."

On Thursday, a Taliban car bomb exploded and killed a US soldier, a Romanian service member and 10 civilians in a busy diplomatic area near the US embassy in Kabul. The bombing was one of many attacks by the Taliban in recent days during US-Taliban talks.

"What kind of people would kill so many in order to seemingly strengthen their bargaining position? They didn't, they only made it worse!" Trump tweeted. "If they cannot agree to a cease-fire during these very important peace talks, and would even kill 12 innocent people, then they probably don't have the power to negotiate a meaningful agreement anyway. How many more decades are they willing to fight?"

It remains unclear if the US-Taliban talks are over or only paused. Trump said he called off the peace negotiations after the bombing, but Khalilzad, the US negotiator, was meeting with leaders of the insurgent group in Doha, Qatar, on both Thursday and Friday.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's office on Sunday said real peace in Afghanistan was only possible when the Taliban stopped their violence and held direct talks with the government.

"Real peace will come when Taliban agree to a cease-fire," Ghani's office said in statement.

Agencies - Xinhua

(China Daily 09/09/2019 page11)