Too early to speak of resuming talks with US

Trump pictured in Germany while flying back to the US (DM)  

The Taliban has cautioned that it is ‘way too early’ to speak about restarting peace talks with the US in Afghanistan.  

It comes after Donald Trump told troops that the US was speaking to the terror group again during a surprise visit to the country.   

Zabihullah Mujahid, the group’s official spokesman, said in a WhatsApp message: ‘It is way too early to talk about the resumption of talks for now.’  

‘We will give our official reaction later,’ he added.  

America and the Taliban were involved in direct peace talks earlier this year in an effort to bring an end to America’s longest-running war.  Trump abruptly broke the negotiations off when a suicide bombing in Kabul killed an American soldier.  The President made his first visit to Afghanistan on Thanksgiving. It was his first visit to the country.  He also met with President Ashraf Ghani, and afterwards announced he has restarted peace negotiations with the Taliban.  

Trump’s announcement of fresh talks comes after the Taliban released American citizen Kevin King and Australian national Timothy Weeks more than three years after they were abducted.  
Their release came after the Afghan government freed three Taliban prisoners.   

They include Anas Haqqani, who was seized in 2014 and whose older brother is the deputy Taliban leader and head of the Haqqani network, a notorious Taliban affiliate.  
Afghnistan, 
(Daily Mail), 
29 November 2019