United States President Donald Trump on Monday said he did not favour talks with the Taliban, and that his administration would “finish what we have to finish” in Afghanistan. Trump’s statement came after repeated attacks in Afghanistan, for which the Taliban claimed responsibility.
This is an apparent contradiction of Trump’s own strategy to end the conflict in Afghanistan, a Reuters report said.
“I do not see any talking taking place,” Trump told reporters before a meeting with members of the United Nations Security Council. “I do not think we are prepared to talk right now. It is a whole different fight over there. They are killing people left and right. Innocent people are being killed left and right.”
Four US citizens were killed and two wounded in an attack on Kabul’s Intercontinental Hotel on January 20.
Trump said: “When you see what they are doing and the atrocities that they are committing, and killing their own people, and those people are women and children...it is horrible...We do not want to talk to the Taliban. We are going to finish what we have to finish, what nobody else has been able to finish, we are going to be able to do it.”
Meanwhile, the Pentagon has asked the audit agency Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction to stop providing the public information about US’ war efforts in Afghanistan, Washington Post reported on Tuesday. SIGAR is an independent audit agency set up by the US Congress. This contradicts the Pentagon’s promises of being more transparent about US war campaigns.
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