The U.S. decision to suspend peace talks with the Taliban has many fearing that Afghanistan could see a spike in attacks by the militants as they try to force the U.S. back to the negotiating table.
CGTN’s Toby Muse reports.
The White House spent Sunday explaining U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to suspend negotiations with Taliban insurgents, emphasizing that recent Taliban attacks made further talks impossible – for the time being.
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. They were coming to the United States tonight. Unfortunately, in order to build false leverage, they admitted to..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 7, 2019
….only made it worse! If they cannot agree to a ceasefire 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?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 7, 2019
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said any future talks with the Taliban would need to include commitments that the Taliban would expel foreign militant groups like al Queda and that an orderly timeline be honored to allow U.S. troops to leave.
The U.S. and the Taliban had been talking for a year in Qatar, with a deal thought to be close. Details of what had been agreed to are sketchy, but it’s understood the U.S. would remove about 5400 troops from Afghanistan within 135 days after signing a final deal. The U.S. has around 14,000 troops in the country.
The reaction to the end of the talks in Kabul was mixed. The government there criticized its exclusion from the negotiations.
The government of Afghanistan praises the earnest efforts of its allies and is committed to working together with the United States and other partners to ensure honorable and enduring peace in the country. pic.twitter.com/qSjdAqU3a9
— GMIC Afghanistan (@GMICafghanistan) September 8, 2019
The Taliban has refused to talk to the government in Kabul, calling it a puppet of the U.S. A spokesman for the Taliban said in a statement: “The Americans will suffer more than anyone else for cancelling the talks.”
Still, there is fear that the end of these talks could see the Taliban launch a new offensive.