Trump and the Taliban are telling wildly different stories about why he canceled a planned meeting at Camp David days before the 9/11 anniversary

Advertisement
Trump and the Taliban are telling wildly different stories about why he canceled a planned meeting at Camp David days before the 9/11 anniversary

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump stands in the Oval Office during a presentation of the Presidential Medal of Freedom to NBA Hall of Famer Jerry West at the White House in Washington, U.S., September 5, 2019. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

Advertisement
  • President Donald Trump said this weekend that he canceled a planned meeting with Taliban leaders at Camp David because of a recent Taliban attack that killed a US service member and several others in Afghanistan.
  • But the Taliban is telling a different story, saying the meeting was canceled because the insurgent group believed the US was trying to trick them into "political suicide," The New York Times reported.
  • The report said Trump originally planned to fly Taliban leaders as well as Ashraf Ghani, the president of Afghanistan, to Camp David, hold meetings with each side, and make a "grand announcement" once a deal had been reached to begin withdrawing US troops from Afghanistan.
  • But the Taliban pushed back, with one official telling The Times, "If Trump and his administration think they would solve the confrontation between the government and the Taliban somewhere in Washington in a meeting, that's not possible because we do not recognize the stooge government."
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

President Donald Trump and the Taliban appear to be telling two different stories about why he canceled a planned meeting with the group's leaders at Camp David that was originally set to take place Sunday.

Trump said he called off the meeting and any other peace negotiations due to a recent Taliban attack that killed a US service member and several others in Afghanistan.

The president went on to say that if the Taliban cannot agree to a ceasefire during the talks "and would even kill 12 innocent people, then they probably don't have the power to negotiate in a meaningful agreement anyway."

But The New York Times reported on Sunday that the meeting's cancellation had more to do with the Taliban's resistance to the US's terms on a potential peace deal that would have seen 5,000 US troops withdraw from five bases in Afghanistan within 135 days.

Advertisement

According to the report, Trump originally planned to fly Taliban leaders and Ashraf Ghani, the president of Afghanistan, to Camp David, hold meetings with each side, and make a "grand announcement" once a deal had been reached.

Read more: 'He's losing his s---': Trump's advisers are increasingly worried about his mental state following days of erratic behavior

But Taliban leaders reportedly believed the Americans were trying to trick them into "political suicide" and that the US was rushing to finalize certain issues related to the potential peace deal.

"We promised there would be intra-Afghan talks once we finalized our agreement with the Americans," a senior Taliban leader told The Times. "If Trump and his administration think they would solve the confrontation between the government and the Taliban somewhere in Washington in a meeting, that's not possible because we do not recognize the stooge government."

Trump drew immediate and sustained backlash after he announced that he had planned to fly Taliban leaders out to Camp David just days before the 18-year anniversary of the September 11 attacks. He was also criticized for appearing to express surprise that the Taliban had carried out the attack in Kabul this week.

The war in Afghanistan, which is often referred to as the US's "forever war," began shortly after the terrorist attacks.

{{}}