WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said he spoke Tuesday with the leader of the Taliban, days after the United States and the Taliban signed an agreement that calls for the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan after more than 18 years.
Trump is believed to be the first US president to speak directly to the Taliban, and he suggested it wasn’t his first time. Asked if Tuesday was his first conversation with a leader of the Taliban, Trump said: “I don’t want to say that.”
“The relationship is very good that I have with the mullah,” Trump said. “We had a good long conversation today and, you know, they want to cease the violence. They’d like to cease violence also.”
“They’re looking to get this ended and we’re looking to get it ended,” he told reporters. “I think we all have a very common interest.”
The deal, signed by chief negotiators from the two sides and witnessed by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, could see the withdrawal of all American and allied forces within 14 months and allow Trump to keep a key campaign pledge to extract the US from “endless wars.” But it also could unravel easily, particularly if the Taliban and other factions of Afghan society fail to have successful talks about a political way ahead for the country.
Those talks are scheduled to begin next Tuesday.
Trump said it’s still unclear what the Afghans will do when they sit with the Taliban and attempt to draft a peaceful political future for the nation. He added: “The country really has to get it ended. We’ve been there for 20 years. Other presidents have tried and they were unsuccessful.”
A short time before Trump spoke, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid tweeted that the president had spoken on the phone with Taliban leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar.
The Afghan Taliban also released a statement, saying the phone call took place shortly after 9:30 a.m. EST and lasted for 35 minutes. SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors communications from militant organizations, said the Taliban statement claimed the call was held in the presence of a number of members of the Taliban negotiating committee and Zalmay Khalilzad, the US envoy who negotiated the deal.
According to the statement, the conversation was about how both sides will put in place the agreement and that the mullah assured Trump that if the United States honored the agreement, then the US and the Taliban will have “positive bilateral relations.”
The statement said that Taliban leader told Trump: “Mr. President! Take determined actions in regards to the withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan and do not allow anyone to take actions that violate the terms of the agreement thus embroiling you even further in this prolonged war.”
No other details were disclosed.
There is a photo of President Ronald Reagan hosting five “Afghan freedom fighters” in the Oval Office in 1983 to discuss Soviet aggression, but they were not members of the Taliban, which did not form until the 1990s. The US backed the Afghan fighters against the Soviets.
Trump says he spoke to Taliban leader, had ‘good talk’
https://arab.news/jrnx3
Trump says he spoke to Taliban leader, had ‘good talk’
- “The relationship is very good that I have with the mullah,” Trump said
Uganda partially restores internet after president wins 7th term
- “The internet shutdown implemented two days before the elections limited access to information, freedom of association, curtailed economic activities ... it also created suspicion and mistrust on the electoral process,” the team said in their report
KAMPALA: Ugandan authorities have partially restored internet services late after 81-year-old President Yoweri Museveni won a seventh term to extend his rule into a fifth decade with a landslide victory rejected by the opposition.
Users reported being able to reconnect to the internet and some internet service providers sent out a message to customers saying the regulator had ordered them to restore services excluding social media.
“We have restored internet so that businesses that rely on internet can resume work,” David Birungi, spokesperson for Airtel Uganda, one of the country’s biggest telecom companies said. He added that the state communications regulator had ordered that social media remain shut down.
The state-run Uganda Communications Commission said it had cut off internet to curb “misinformation, disinformation, electoral fraud and related risks.” The opposition, however, criticized the move saying it was to cement control over the electoral process and guarantee a win for the incumbent.
The electoral body in the East African country on Saturday declared Museveni the winner of Thursday’s poll with 71.6 percent of the vote, while his rival pop star-turned-politician Bobi Wine was credited with 24 percent of the vote.
A joint report from an election observer team from the African Union and other regional blocs criticized the involvement of the military in the election and the authorities’ decision to cut off internet.
“The internet shutdown implemented two days before the elections limited access to information, freedom of association, curtailed economic activities ... it also created suspicion and mistrust on the electoral process,” the team said in their report.
In power since 1986 and currently Africa’s third longest-ruling head of state, Museveni’s latest win means he will have been in power for nearly half a century when his new term ends in 2031.
He is widely thought to be preparing his son, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, to take over from him. Kainerugaba is currently head of the military and has expressed presidential ambitions.
Wine, who was taking on Museveni for a second time, has rejected the results of the latest vote and alleged mass fraud during the election.
Scattered opposition protests broke out late on Saturday after results were announced, according to a witness and police.
In Magere, a suburb in Kampala’s north where Wine lives, a group of youths burned tires and erected barricades in the road prompting police to respond with tear gas.
Police spokesperson Racheal Kawala said the protests had been quashed and that arrests were made but said the number of those detained would be released later.
Wine’s whereabouts were unknown early on Sunday after he said in a post on X he had escaped a raid by the military on his home. People close to him said he remained at an undisclosed location in Uganda. Wine was briefly held under house arrest following the previous election in 2021.
Wine has said hundreds of his supporters were detained during the months leading up to the vote and that others have been tortured.
Government officials have denied those allegations and say those who have been detained have violated the law and will be put through due process.
