President Trump said Monday his administration does not see an opening to negotiate with the Taliban amid a series of deadly attacks on Afghan civilians.
“They’re killing people left and right. Innocent people are being killed left and right, bombing in the middle of children, in the middle of families, bombing, killing all over Afghanistan,” Trump said before a meeting with United Nations Security Council ambassadors at the White House.
“So we don’t want to talk with the Taliban,” Trump added. “There may be a time, but it’s going to be a long time.”
The president condemned the Taliban over the weekend after the group claimed responsibility for a car bombing in Kabul that killed more than 100 people.
Although Trump vowed on the campaign trail to withdraw U.S. troops from protracted conflicts overseas, he recommitted the U.S. to the 17-year war in Afghanistan in August of last year. In a speech announcing the policy shift, he said he had come to understand that “the consequences of a rapid exit [from Afghanistan] are both predictable and unacceptable.”
The Taliban has claimed responsibility for a number of attacks on civilians in recent months.
