Afghanistan: Donald Trump cancels peace talks with Taliban

Donald Trump announced on Saturday evening, 7 September, to everyone's surprise, that he was canceling a secret meeting with Taliban officials and the Afghan president and ending the "peace talks" that had been under way for a year. They appeared to be on the verge of a historic agreement after 18 years of conflict in Afghanistan, but the US president turned around after an attack on Thursday, September 5, claimed by the insurgents.

The President of the United States also unveiled that he was to meet this Sunday at Camp David, "separately" and in the biggest "secret", his Afghan counterpart Ashraf Ghani, but also "the main leaders of the Taliban".

It would have been an unprecedented meeting, just days away from the 18th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks that provoked the US military intervention in Afghanistan to oust the Taliban, accused of giving refuge to Al Qaeda. The mere fact that such a face-to-face has been considered in any case confirms Donald Trump's preference for diplomacy at the top.

"They were on their way to the United States tonight" but "I immediately canceled the meeting," he said on Twitter.

"Unfortunately, to make an improper attempt to increase pressure," the Taliban "acknowledged an attack in Kabul that killed one of our great big soldiers and eleven other people," he said to justify his dramatic decision to "end the peace negotiations".

.... only made it worse! If they can not agree to a ceasefire during these very important peace talks, and would even kill 12 innocent people, then they probably do not have the power to negotiate a meaningful agreement anyway. How many more decades are they willing to fight?

The attack on Thursday (September 5th) was the second in a few days in the insurgency-backed Afghan capital Kabul despite the "agreement in principle" that US negotiator Zalmay Khalilzad claimed had reached with them at the Doha talks. The emissary of the United States had just presented this text earlier this week to President Ghani in Kabul.

Washington negotiated "in a weak position"

"Who are these people who kill so many people supposedly to raise the auction? They failed, they have only aggravated their position!" Donald Trump again launched on Twitter.

"If they are unable to accept a ceasefire during these very important peace talks, and are able to kill twelve innocent people, then they probably do not have the means to negotiate a meaningful deal. for decades yet do they want to fight? ", concluded the Republican billionaire.

"Longer than the United States," said Laurel Miller, head of US diplomacy for Afghanistan and Pakistan between 2013 and 2017 and today Asia director of the International Crisis Group.

According to her, the project of secret meeting with the Taliban leaders "is a big surprise". "Why cancel it because of a deadly attack in Kabul on Thursday when the Taliban have increased the attacks recently? It is not very clear," she told AFP.

For Michael Kugelman, of the Wilson Center think tank, the problem arises from the fact that "the US government was ready to negotiate in a weak position". "Trump wants to leave Afghanistan, will he withdraw even without agreement?" He asked on Twitter, while predicting a possible resumption of negotiations.

Trump wants out of #Afghanistan. So is he now willing to pull out w / no deal? Doubtful, for now. Do not think we've heard the last of talks.

"Endless wars"

In fact, the Republican billionaire, who promised to "end endless wars", gave the green light a year ago to these direct and unpublished Taliban negotiations.

An agreement was about to be reached to allow a gradual withdrawal of 13,000 to 14,000 US troops in Afghanistan, in return for counterterrorist guarantees from the Taliban, a "reduction of violence" and launching direct peace negotiations with the Kabul authorities, to which the insurgents had so far always refused.

But the Afghan government has expressed its "concern" this week over the draft agreement, seeking clarification from Zalmay Khalilzad, who returned to Doha, Qatar on Thursday to resume talks with the Taliban.

US PM Mike Pompeo initially said he hoped for an agreement before Sept. 1 so that these inter-Afghan negotiations could begin before the presidential election scheduled for Sept. 28 in Afghanistan.

And Donald Trump, who has long held that the conflict cost too much money and lives in the United States, made it clear that he wanted to beat the recall of the troops before running for a second term in November 2020.

So much so that some observers and the American political class, despite the consensus on the need to end this conflict, feared that the tenant of the White House would sign a "bad agreement" because of his electoral eagerness.

Several former ambassadors of the United States in Afghanistan had also warned Tuesday, September 3 in an open letter against the possibility of a total withdrawal of US soldiers before peace has really returned to the country.

But the president finally said "no" on Saturday, as he had given up in February to conclude in agreement with the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, considering that the conditions were not met.

With AFP