WEB DESK
US President Donald Trump has announced the resumption of peace talks with the Taliban, but refused to give a timeline for the drawdown of US troops from Afghanistan, as he made an unannounced visit to American soldiers stationed in the war-torn country yesterday. Trump said the terms of the deal would have to include a Taliban ceasefire.
The thanksgiving visit came a week after a prisoner swap with the Taliban aimed at resuming peace negotiations to end the 18-year-long war. As part of the swap deal, the Taliban freed two Western academics who had been held hostage since 2016.
Trump announced in September this year that he was calling the peace talks off after a US service member was killed in a suicide attack in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul. The announcement came after nine rounds of negotiations with the Taliban. It was Trump’s first trip to Afghanistan since becoming the president.