Trump's announcement
A recent article reports: "Declaring that the U.S.-Taliban talks he abruptly canceled in September are back in motion, Trump said during a Thanksgiving Day visit to troops in Afghanistan that the Taliban “wants to make a deal. And we’re meeting with them, and we’re saying it has to be a cease-fire.”" Trump had cancelled the talks early last September as reported in the
Washington Post.
Taliban confirm talks ongoing
Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed that the talks are ongoing. He said that the Taliban wanted the talks to resume where they were when suspended by Trump. At that time there was an agreement in principle but no ceasefire was negotiated so that both sides had continued fighting during negotiations. Trump said one reason he jettisoned the attacks was that among others as US soldier was killed in a Taliban attack. However, the US had also been continuing attacks.
Taliban negotiator Suhai Shaheen said that it is up to the US to get back to the table and resume the talks where they had left off and that negotiations were successful.
Trump's report of a ceasefire as an obstacle
Trump said: "“They didn’t want to do a cease-fire, but now they do want to do a cease-fire,” Trump said of the militants. “It will probably work out that way. … We’ve made tremendous progress,” he added."
However a recent article claims: President Trump’s talk of resuming the process was welcomed, but his stance wasn’t entirely clear, as he claimed the obstacle was a ceasefire that the Taliban first refused, and now supposedly wants. Indications are that the US negotiators already knew that was not the case, and told Trump that the demand for a ceasefire was “overly ambitious.”
So Trump is making demands for the talks even though the Taliban may not be expecting that as part of the deal. However, perhaps as Trump claims they may have changed their mind. Trump has several times announced a deal was near the last time declaring the deal dead after an agreement in principle.
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