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KABUL: The US President Donald Trump has said that he would meet the Taliban leaders in the near future, following a peace deal signed between US and Taliban on Saturday evening in Qatar.
Talking to a new conference, he said, “I‘ll be meeting personally with the Taliban leaders in the not-too distant future.”
He called the Afghan war a long journey, saying that it was time to bring the American troops back home.
Expressing sympathy to the people who had lost their lives in the longest war in Afghanistan, Trump congratulated the Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Afghanistan people for the peace victory.
Trump hinted the remarks hours after the peace deal ceremony, held with the presence of tens of representative world’s countries in Sheraton Hotel.
To follow the agreement, the US will cut down the number of its roughly 13,000 troops to 8,600 within 14 months. The Taliban will cut their ties with other terrorist group. The intra-Afghan-talks, which are considered as the next crucial step of the Afghanistan peace process, would be held within a ten-day term after the signing of US-Taliban peace deal.
To build a trust issue, the Afghan government, US and Taliban had agreed on a one week partial truce before the peace deal was signed.
The Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in a press conference on Sunday said that the reduction in violence would be continued until both sides reach a ceasefire agreement.
The Taliban has insisted on release of their 5,000 prisoners as a precondition for intra-Afghan-talks. But Kabul administration said the release of prisoners would be discussed during direct-Afghan talks.
