US President Donald Trump at a press conference on the last day of G7 Summit in Biarritz, France, said there is no timeline for US forces’ withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The negotiations between the US and the Taliban interlocutors are underway in Doha, Qatar, with the hope to reach an agreement that will enable the withdrawal of part of US forces, almost 5,000 troops, from Afghanistan.
Mr. Trump, however, said “whatever it is”, there is “no rush”.
“We’re there; we’re really a peacekeeping force more than anything else, frankly. We could win that war in a very short period of time, but I’m not looking to kill 10 million people, Okay?” Mr. Trump said, repeating his recent controversial comments on winning the war in Afghanistan.
The US president pointed out to his administration’s efforts in talking with both the Afghan government and the Taliban as the two sides of the war.
“And we are working along with the Taliban, with the government and other people too, we will see what happens,” he said.
This comes as sources said on Monday that the US and the Taliban negotiators have made progress on establishing safe zones in parts of Afghanistan after the withdrawal of international forces from the country.
The sources said that based on the safe zone strategy, a ceasefire will be announced in every province from where US forces would leave while nationwide ceasefire will be implemented after the complete withdrawal of American forces.
A Taliban spokesman in Doha Suhail Shaheen in a tweet on Tuesday said the talks will resume at 11 am Kabul time to discuss and agree on the remaining points.
At the same time, the US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad, rejected the reports which say the United States will stop funding the Afghan National Security and Defense Forces as part of a peace deal between the US and the Taliban.
