KABUL (TCA) — The Taliban on January 23 called on President Donald Trump to withdraw U.S. forces from Afghanistan, saying it is a “quagmire” that has produced little but 15 years of destruction and death, RFE/RL reports.
Trump has never stated what his policy is on Afghanistan, though he has said he supports U.S. troops stationed there and he appointed two former generals with extensive experience in Afghanistan to top security positions.
In an open letter to the new U.S. president published on a Taliban web page verified by the SITE Intelligence Group on January 23, the insurgent movement told Trump the United States has lost credibility after spending billions of dollars on a 15-year entanglement with no end in sight.
“The responsibility to bring to an end this war rests on your shoulders,” it said.
The Taliban has repeatedly urged the United States and its allies to leave Afghanistan, ruling out peace talks with the Kabul government as long as foreign forces remain on Afghan soil.
While the United States sent tens of thousands of troops to Afghanistan when it first invaded in 2001 to oust Al-Qaeda, the number of U.S. forces in NATO’s coalition this year has dwindled to 8,400.
Since coalition forces ended their main combat mission in 2014, the Taliban has made steady inroads against the Western-backed government in Kabul, with government forces now in control of only two-thirds of the country.
Trump’s views on such foreign wars have been ambivalent. He has sharply criticized past U.S. administrations for their handling of conflicts in the Muslim world, but he has also pledged to eradicate militant Islamists around the globe.
