Trump rejects peace talks with Taliban in departure from Afghan strategy

WASHINGTON (Reuters): US President Donald Trump on Monday rejected the idea of talks with the Taliban after a series of deadly attacks in Afghanistan, in an apparent contradiction of his own strategy to end America’s longest foreign war.

Trump condemned the militant group for the carnage in Kabul and pledged to “finish what we have to finish.”

Trump’s comments suggest he sees a military victory over the Taliban, an outcome that military and diplomatic officials say cannot be achieved with the resources and manpower he has authorised.

When he announced an increase in US troops to Afghanistan in August, US officials said the goal was to force the Taliban to negotiate a political settlement.

“I don’t see any talking taking place,” Trump told reporters as he began meeting at the White House with members of the United Nations Security Council.

“I don’t think we’re prepared to talk right now. It’s a whole different fight over there. They’re killing people left and right. Innocent people are being killed left and right.”

Trump last year ordered an increase in US troops to Afghanistan, air strikes and other assistance to Afghan forces. The US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, said earlier this month the strategy was working and pushing the insurgents closer to peace talks.

That was before a suicide bomber penetrated the highly guarded centre of Kabul on Saturday and detonated an explosives-laden ambulance, killing more than 100 people and wounding at least 235. That attack followed a brazen Taliban assault on the city’s Intercontinental Hotel and other acts of violence.

Four US citizens were killed and two wounded in the Jan. 20 attack on the Intercontinental Hotel, the US State Department said last week. At least 20 people were killed in the hotel assault.

“When you see what they’re doing and the atrocities that they’re committing, and killing their own people, and those people are women and children ... it is horrible,” Trump said.

“We don’t want to talk to the Taliban. We’re going to finish what we have to finish, what nobody else has been able to finish, we’re going to be able to do it,” Trump said.

Afghanistan says Taliban will have to be defeated, after Trump rejects talks

KABUL/PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - Afghanistan said on Tuesday the Taliban would have to be defeated on the battlefield after U.S. President Donald Trump rejected the idea of talks with the militants following a series of deadly attacks.

The Taliban reacted to Trump’s announcement by saying they never wanted to talk to the United States anyway, but one senior member of the group said he suspected efforts would still be made to get negotiations going.

Talking to reporters at the White House on Monday, Trump condemned the militant group for recent carnage in Kabul and said the United States was not prepared to talk now. He pledged to “finish what we have to finish”.

His comments suggested he sees a military victory over the Taliban, an outcome that U.S. military and diplomatic officials say cannot be achieved with the resources and manpower he has authorized.

A spokesman for Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said while the government had encouraged the Taliban to talk, the attacks in Kabul, including a suicide bomb attack on Saturday that killed more than 100 people, was a “red line”.

 “The Taliban have crossed a red line and lost the chance for peace,” said the spokesman, Shah Hussain Murtazawi.

 “We have to look for peace on the battlefield. They have to be marginalized.” He declined to comment directly on Trump’s announcement.