WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Monday rejected the idea of talks with the Taliban after a series of deadly attacks in Afghanistan, in an apparent contradiction of his own strategy to end America’s longest foreign war.
Trump condemned the militant group for the carnage in Kabul and pledged to “finish what we have to finish.”
Trump’s comments suggest he sees a military victory over the Taliban, an outcome that military and diplomatic officials say cannot be achieved with the resources and manpower he has authorized.
When he announced an increase in US troops to Afghanistan in August, US officials said the goal was to force the Taliban to negotiate a political settlement.
“I don’t see any talking taking place,” Trump told reporters as he began meeting at the White House with members of the United Nations Security Council.
“I don’t think we’re prepared to talk right now. It’s a whole different fight over there. They’re killing people left and right. Innocent people are being killed left and right.”
Trump last year ordered an increase in US troops to Afghanistan, air strikes and other assistance to Afghan forces. The US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, said earlier this month the strategy was working and pushing the insurgents closer to peace talks.
That was before a suicide bomber penetrated the highly guarded center of Kabul on Saturday and detonated an explosives-laden ambulance, killing more than 100 people and wounding at least 235. That attack followed a brazen Taliban assault on the city’s Intercontinental Hotel and other acts of violence.
Four US citizens were killed and two wounded in the Jan. 20 attack on the Intercontinental Hotel, the US State Department said last week. At least 20 people were killed in the hotel assault.
NO EVIDENCE OF MILITARY VICTORY
“When you see what they’re doing and the atrocities that they’re committing, and killing their own people, and those people are women and children ... it is horrible,” Trump said.
“We don’t want to talk to the Taliban. We’re going to finish what we have to finish, what nobody else has been able to finish, we’re going to be able to do it,” Trump said.
Current and former US officials said that despite the carnage, the United States had no choice but to promote peace talks.
A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, expressed surprise at Trump’s comments and said there was an understanding that defeating the Taliban was not purely a military problem. “You can never really take talks off the table,” the official said.
Laurel Miller, who served as acting US special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan until June, said the stated goal of Trump’s Afghanistan strategy was “to increase military pressure on the Taliban in order to motivate them to engage in a political settlement.”
There is no evidence, she said, “that suggests that the US and Afghan forces can defeat the Taliban on the battlefield.”
Afghanistan’s UN ambassador, Mahmoud Saikal, told Reuters on Monday that fighting needed to continue against certain elements of the Taliban.
“There are two categories of Taliban: One is the reconcilable elements who are in touch with us, who are talking to us, and one is the irreconcilable,” Saikal said.
“The irreconcilables and those who have chosen to fight, we need to fight. We need to fight against them, we need to have the capability to withstand against them and to defend our people,” he said.
Trump condemns Taliban role in Afghan attacks, says no talks
Trump condemns Taliban role in Afghan attacks, says no talks
Russia says two crew members from US-seized tanker released
- “Two Russian sailors have been released and are on their way home to Russia,” Zakharova said
- Russia announced earlier this month that the US had decided to release the Russian duo
MOSCOW: Moscow said Wednesday two Russian crew members of a tanker seized this month by the United States in the Atlantic had been released and were on their way home.
US authorities took over the Russian-flagged vessel earlier this month, alleging it was part of a shadow fleet carrying oil from countries such as Venezuela, Russia and Iran in violation of US sanctions.
The United States said publicly that the Marinera’s crew could be prosecuted. Russia said that would be “categorically unacceptable” and accused Washington of stoking tensions and threatening international shipping.
“Two Russian sailors have been released and are on their way home to Russia,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told the state-run RIA Novosti news agency on Wednesday.
Russia announced earlier this month that the United States had decided to release the two Russian crew members, but last week its Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the decision had not yet been implemented.
The captain and the first officer of the tanker have left UK waters, Solicitor General for Scotland, Ruth Charteris told a court hearing Tuesday, Press Association news agency reported.
“The captain and the first officer are now aboard the US Coast Guard vessel Munro and have departed the United Kingdom’s territorial sea,” Charteris said.
Twenty-six of the 28 crew have left the ship, officials told AFP. They were processed at a military site in Inverness, Scotland, the court was told, according to Press Association.
Five wanted to travel to the United States and 21 elsewhere. None have claimed asylum, the court heard.
“At the request of the US authorities, crew members have been allowed to disembark for onwards travel,” a UK government spokesperson told AFP Wednesday.
“They will be processed in line with all appropriate immigration and legal requirements.”
Britain was not involved in the movement of the other two crew members, the government said.
The United States seized the tanker, previously known as Bella 1, which was being escorted by the Russian navy, after chasing it from near the Venezuelan coast.
It was re-flagged and re-named to bring it under Russian jurisdiction in a bid to discourage the United States from trying to take it as part of its campaign against Venezuela.
