PresidentDonald Trump confirmed Tuesday that he spoke on the phone to a Taliban leader,making him the first U.S. president believed to have ever spoken directly withthe militant group responsible for the deaths of thousands of U.S. troops innearly 19 years of fighting in Afghanistan.
Trump saidthe United States has a shared interest with the Taliban, which harboredal-Qaida before the 9/11 attacks.
"We had a very good conversation with the leader of the Taliban today, and they're looking to get this ended, and we're looking to get it mended. I think we all have a very common interest," Trump said. "We had, actually, a very good talk with the leader of the Taliban."
The UnitedStates and the Taliban signed an agreement Saturday calling for the withdrawalof American troops, allowing Trump to make progress on a key campaign pledge toextract the U.S. from what he calls "endless wars" and paving the way forall-Afghan talks to begin March 10. Trump suggested the phone call, which theTaliban said lasted 35 minutes, was not his first. Asked if Tuesday was hisfirst conversation with a leader of the Taliban, Trump said, "I don't want tosay that."
Earlier,Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid tweeted that the president had spoken onthe phone with Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, a co-founder of the Taliban and headof their political office in Qatar.
"Therelationship is very good that I have with the mullah," Trump said. "We had agood long conversation today and, you know, they want to cease the violence. They'dlike to cease violence also."
Secretary ofState Mike Pompeo witnessed the agreement, which was signed Saturday in Doha,Qatar, by chief negotiators from the two sides. According to the deal, all13,000 U.S. troops will leave Afghanistan within 14 months if the Taliban meettheir obligations to America. Those promises are tied to fighting terrorism,preventing Afghanistan from becoming a haven for terrorists, denouncingterrorist groups, severing past links with the likes of al-Qaida and helpingfight the Islamic State group affiliate.
It alsoenvisioned talks between Afghans on both sides of the conflict starting March10, most likely in Oslo, Norway. But so far there's no confirmation thatimportant next step will take place. The U.S. withdrawal is not tied toAfghanistan's warring sides figuring out how to talk to each other, let alonecoming to an agreement on what peace among them will look like.
Already thereare hurdles. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has refused to release up to 5,000Taliban prisoners, which the agreement said would happen before the start ofthe so-called intra-Afghan negotiations next week. The Ghani administrationclaims those releases will be part of negotiations. The Taliban are to releaseup to 1,000 Afghan government and military captives.
Trump said it's still unclear what the Afghans will do when and if they sit with the Taliban and attempt to draft a peaceful political future for the nation. "The country really has to get it mended. We've been there for 20 years. Other presidents have tried and they were unsuccessful," he said. In the past, people have wrongly believed that President Ronald Reagan had a meeting with the Taliban. In 1983, Reagan hosted five "Afghan freedom fighters" in the Oval Office. At the time, the U.S. was backing these Afghan fighters battling the Soviet Union. The Taliban was not formed until the 1990s.
