Washington: US President Donald Trump has ruled out talks with the Taliban and vowed to “finish” them following a wave of deadly attacks in Afghanistan.
Mr Trump railed against a series of “atrocities” in Afghanistan and said as a result the US would not engage in any future talks with the Taliban as the administration seeks to end a stalemate in America’s longest war.
Meeting a delegation of UN Security Council ambassadors at the White House on Monday Trump said, “We do not want to talk with the Taliban. There may be a time, but it’s going to be a long time.”
Trump has raised the stakes in fighting the Taliban by acting against Pakistan, which he has accused of helping the organisation. The administration has announced that it is withholding security assistance to Islamabad estimated over $1 billion till it stops supporting the Taliban.
The luncheon meeting with the members was in the backdrop of two deadly terrorist attacks by the Taliban in Kabul recently, including the use of an ambulance by a suicide bomber that killed more than 100 people.
“Innocent people are being killed left and right, bombing in the middle of children, in the middle of families, bombing, killing all over Afghanistan,” Trump said.
Trump did not specify what he has in mind, but suggested that a stronger military response is imminent.
“What nobody else has been able to finish we are going to be able to do it,” he said.
The militants have stepped up attacks on Afghan troops and police in recent months.
Islamic State militants yesterday attacked Afghan soldiers guarding a military academy in Kabul killing at least 11 troops and wounding 16.
On January 20, Taliban militants stormed Kabul’s landmark Intercontinental hotel and killed at least 25 people, mostly foreigners.
In the meeting with the members, Trump said the group would discuss a range of security challenges, including the “de-nuking” of North Korea, countering Iran’s destabilisation activities in the Middle East, ending the Syrian conflict and confronting terrorism.
Agencies
