President Donald Trump has said that the Taliban leaders have admitted they made a big mistake amid peace talks to end the conflict in Afghanistan.
Responding to a question regarding his intention to bring peace to Afghanistan, President Trump said “Yeah, well, we were thinking about having a meeting. I didn’t like the idea that they couldn’t produce a ceasefire. I wasn’t in favor of that.”
Trump further added ” I said, “No. If they can’t produce a ceasefire, then why are we bothering?” And they thought that it was a sign of strength to kill 12 people, wound others — badly wound some others.”
He also added “We have hit — in Afghanistan, we have hit the Taliban harder than they’ve ever been hit in the entire 19 years of war. They’ve been hit harder. It’s come back to me through absolutely impeccable sources that they are saying, “Wow. We made a mistake with this guy. We made a big…” They made a mistake.”
He made the remarks before bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Morrison of Australia on Friday.
President Trump called off peace talks with Taliban group on 8th of September in reaction to a deadly attack in Kabul city which killed at least 12 people, including an American service member.
He was due to meet with President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani and Taliban leaders at Camp David before the attack jeopardized the peace efforts.
His decision comes as violence has considerably increased in Afghanistan in recent months which led to a high number of casualties not only among the warring sides but also in Afghan civilians. A BBC Pashto research shows that violence left at least 2,307 dead and 1,948 others wounded only in the month of August. According to the research, 74 people have been killed every day during the month.
