Taliban say ‘too early’ to discuss resumption of talks with US

Afghan president Ashraf Ghani (C) poses for a photograph at a polling station during the presidential elections, in Kabul, Afghanistan on September 28, 2019. (EPA-EFE FILE Photo)
 

Kabul, November 29 (efe-epa): The Taliban said on Friday that it was "too early" to speak about the resumption of talks with the United States after President Donald Trump, during an unannounced Thanksgiving visit to Afghanistan, declared that he had reopened peace negotiations with the insurgents.

“It is too early to talk about this (the resumption of peace talks),” Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid told EFE, without elaborating any further.

“We will be talking about (it) and explain about this in the future,” he said.

The remarks from the insurgent group came hours after Trump confirmed the resumption of talks with the Taliban. The peace process was called off after abruptly in early September following an attack in Kabul, in which an American citizen was killed.

In a video on Trump's Twitter account, the president can be seen making a speech with a dozen US troops and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani standing behind him at the Bagram Air Field.

“The Taliban wants to make a deal and we’re meeting with them and we’re saying it has to be a ceasefire and they didn’t want to do a ceasefire and now they do want to do a ceasefire,” Trump said.

“And they only want to make a deal because you're doing a great job (...) So I want to thank you and I want to thank the Afghan soldiers. I've spoken to a lot of you today and you say they're really fighting hard. I was very impressed with that actually.”

Trump's visit to the airfield in the northeastern province of Parwan marked his first trip to the Islamic country as US president, where America is fighting the longest war in its history.

President Ghani did not speak in the video but made a Twitter comment after meeting with his US counterpart during Trump's fleeting three-and-a-half-hour visit to the airbase.

“Both sides (the US and Afghanistan) underscored that if the Taliban are sincere in their commitment to reaching a peace deal, they must accept a ceasefire," Ghani said.

"We also emphasized that for any peace to last, terrorist safe havens outside Afghanistan must be dismantled," Ghani added, in a clear reference to the neighboring Pakistan, accused of providing shelter to the insurgents while they carry out attacks on Afghan territory.

Before breaking off the negotiations in September Trump was on the verge of receiving Taliban leaders and Ghani at the US president's country retreat at Camp David in Maryland.

The planned visit sparked criticism in Washington given that the Taliban had sheltered global terrorist leader Osama bin Laden and the talks would have taken place near the anniversary of Sep 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Ghani also revealed that the two leaders discussed "the important progress we have jointly made in our military efforts in the battlefield including crushing the Daesh (Islamic State) in eastern Afghanistan."

"President Trump appreciated the tireless efforts of the Afghan security forces in this fight," Ghani added.

After the meeting, the two leaders sat down with some of the almost 14,000 American soldiers deployed in the country to eat the traditional turkey dinner served on Thanksgiving, which was celebrated in the US on Thursday.

"We thanked them and their Afghan counterparts for their continued efforts and sacrifices in combating terrorism," Ghani said.

The war in Afghanistan, which began in 2001 with the ousting of the Taliban regime, is the longest in US history.