Trump’s tweets on calling off peace talks ‘unbelievable’: Taliban

The Taliban on Sunday termed US President Donald Trump’s decision to call off peace talks with the group as “unbelievable”, asserting that his “disappointing” tweets “damaged his credibility”.

“A few days ago, we finalised an agreement with the US, the text of which was sent to the leaders of both delegations and provided to Qatar. Everyone was satisfied. It was agreed that Qatar would announce the deal. However, the disappointing tweets by President Trump are unbelievable and damaged his credibility,” Suhail Shaheen, the spokesperson for the Taliban’s political office in Doha, Qatar said in a tweet in Arabic.

Trump on Saturday announced that he was calling off the peace negotiations with the Taliban and cancelled a “secret meeting” with the group’s representatives at Camp David in the wake of the Kabul terror attack, which claimed 12 lives, including an American soldier.

Despite Trump’s decision, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday said that the administration is still working toward a deal but it will not proceed until the Taliban delivers on its commitments.

The US has been negotiating with the Taliban in the last few months at Doha despite the group’s reluctance to hold direct talks with the Afghan government, which it views as a US puppet.

Earlier this week, US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad said that the Trump administration had reached a deal “in principle” to withdraw over 5,000 troops from Afghanistan in exchange for guarantees by the Taliban.