President Donald Trump said he canceled a secret meeting with Taliban officials at Camp David over the weekend after the group claimed responsibility for a terror attack that killed a U.S. serviceman, a Romanian serviceman, and numerous civilians near the U.S. embassy in Kabul.
Breitbart reported that Trump revealed the secret meeting — and the news that it had been canceled — in a series of tweets denouncing the group for its actions.
Unbeknownst to almost everyone, the major Taliban leaders and, separately, the President of Afghanistan, were going to secretly meet with me at Camp David on Sunday. They were coming to the United States tonight. Unfortunately, in order to build false leverage, they admitted to..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 7, 2019
….only made it worse! If they cannot agree to a ceasefire during these very important peace talks, and would even kill 12 innocent people, then they probably don’t have the power to negotiate a meaningful agreement anyway. How many more decades are they willing to fight?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 7, 2019
Peace talks off
Trump also called off peace talks between the Afghans and the Taliban that had almost reached a deal.
“What kind of people would kill so many in order to seemingly strengthen their bargaining position?” Trump tweeted Saturday. “They didn’t, they only made it worse!”
Trump has been trying to broker a deal between the Afghanis and the Taliban to end the fighting so that when the U.S. pulls its troops, there won’t be ongoing problems between them.
“We’ve been a peacekeeper there, in a way, for 19 years and at a certain point, you have to say, ‘That’s long enough,’” Trump said in August.
Afghanistan moving forward
For their part, Afghan leaders signaled approval for Trump’s move and seemed to suggest that they would continue to negotiate with the Taliban on their own, The Washington Post reported.
“We believe President Trump has a proper understanding of the situation and sees that the Taliban are not committed to peace,” said spokesman Sediq Sediqqi. “He understands that the Afghan government and people are concerned for a meaningful and long-lasting peace.”
On Sunday, some prominent Republicans criticized Trump’s willingness to host a meeting with the Taliban on American soil, while others praised him for calling off the talks in response to the Taliban’s aggression.
Meanwhile, Taliban attacks and violence have surged in recent weeks as a deal appeared to be in its final stages, proving once again that you can’t negotiate with terrorists, no matter how much you might want to.