US hopes for Taliban peace talks dashed

Taliban backflip

Before the apparent backflip in the Taliban's position on talks on Friday, a senior Taliban commander, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: "We are hoping that Trump's visit to Afghanistan will prove that he is serious to start talks again. We don't think he has not much of a choice."

The US president abruptly broke off peace talks with the Taliban in September, canceling a secret meeting with militants at Camp David after a bombing in Kabul that killed 12 people, including a US soldier. It was not immediately clear how long or substantive the US re-engagement with the Taliban had been.

White House spokesman Judd Deere said Ghani was notified of the president's visit a few hours before Trump's arrival and accepted an invitation to meet at the base.

There are currently about 13,000 US forces as well as thousands of other NATO troops in Afghanistan, 18 years after an invasion by a US-led coalition following the Sept 11, 2001, al-Qaida attacks on the US.

About 2,400 US service members have been killed in the course of the Afghan conflict.

A draft accord agreed in September would have thousands of US troops withdrawn in exchange for guarantees that Afghanistan would not be used as a base for militant attacks on the US or its allies.

REUTERS/AP