WASHINGTON – The priority of the Trump Administration is to end the war inAfghanistan and to ensure the civil war-ravaged country never becomes abase for terrorism, the White House said amid reports of its negotiationswith the Taliban.
Our priority is to end the war in Afghanistan and to ensure that there isnever a base for terrorism in Afghanistan again, White House PressSecretary Sarah Sanders told reporters on Monday at her first conference ofthe year, PTI has reported.
Negotiations are going to continue, she said.
Earlier, The New York Times reported that the US and Taliban have reachedan agreement in principle on Afghan peace deal.
Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan told reporters at the Pentagonthat the talks with the Taliban by Special US Representatives ZalmayKhalilzad is encouraging.The Pentagon has not been asked to prepare for afull withdrawal from Afghanistan, he said.
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NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg to the Pentagon said that the alliancecontinues to remain with the United States in Afghanistan.We welcome thetalks with Taliban, he said, adding that Khalilzad briefed all allies a fewweeks ago.
The reason why NATO is in Afghanistan is to create a condition for peacefulsolution to make sure that Afghanistan never again becomes a safe haven forinternational terrorists and to send a message to Taliban that they willnot win on the battlefield, so they have to sit down at the negotiatingtable, and therefore we are encouraged by what we see now, the progress andtalks with Taliban, Stoltenberg said.
