The Taliban on Sunday warned that more American lives would be lost if President Donald Trump canceled peace talks with them, but said they remained open to continuing with the talks.
The group was replying to a series of Trump tweets on Saturday that said a secret meeting with “major leaders” of the Taliban at Camp David had been canceled because of an attack by the insurgents that killed an American soldier.
“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,” Trump said. “I immediately cancelled the meeting and called off peace negotiations.”
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo confirmed talks between American and Taliban officials — which have spanned the past year and resulted in a draft agreement to end America’s longest war — have been suspended indefinitely and that U.S. forces would continue to put military pressure on the insurgents.
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“If the Taliban don’t behave, if they don’t deliver on the commitments that they’ve made to us now for weeks, and in some cases months, the president is not going to reduce the pressure, we’re not going to reduce our support for the Afghan security forces that have fought so hard there in Afghanistan,” Pompeo said in an interview with CNN.
The Taliban said the response by the U.S. showed a lack of “composur and experience,” and highlighted that neither side had committed to a cease-fire while the agreement was being finalized.
“This will lead to more losses for the U.S.,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement. “This will harm America more than anyone else. It will damage its reputation, unmask its anti-peace policy to the world even more, increase its loss of life and treasure and present its political interactions as erratic.”
However, Mujahid said the insurgents remained open to continuing talks.
“We will stay committed if the path of negotiation is chosen instead of fighting,” he said.
