WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump ruled out on Monday quick talks withthe Taliban, following a wave of bloody large-scale attacks in the Afghancapital, Kabul.

“I don’t think we are prepared to talk right now,” Trump said, throwinginto question Washington’s strategy of pushing the group towards thenegotiating table.

“We don’t want to talk with the Taliban,” Trump said. “They are killingpeople left and right, innocent people.”

He added: “There may be a time but it’s going to be a long time.”

On Monday, Kabul suffered its third major assault in recent days, as theTaliban and Daesh escalate their offensives.

The militants have stepped up their attacks on beleaguered Afghan troopsand police in recent months, sapping morale already hit by desertions andcorruption.

A suicide attack on an Afghan army battalion Monday killed at least 11soldiers and wounded 16, a defense ministry spokesperson said.

Last Saturday a Taliban suicide attacker driving an explosives-packedambulance blew it up in a crowded area of the capital, killing at least 103people — mainly civilians — and wounding 235 in one of the worst bombingsin the city in recent years.

And on January 20, Taliban fighters stormed Kabul’s landmarkIntercontinental hotel and killed at least 25 people, the majority of themforeigners, in an assault lasting more than 12 hours.

In August, Trump concluded a months-long review of America’s strategy towin the brutal war in Afghanistan, now entering its 17th year.

The strategy called for an increase in the tempo and intensity of strikesagainst the Taliban.

The aim is to persuade some Taliban factions to enter talks with thegovernment in Kabul.

This month’s spate of bombings and Trump’s comments indicate that end gamemay further away than the White House would like. – AFP