U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was grilled by Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace on President Trump’s secretly planned meeting with Taliban leaders that was supposed to take place at Camp David this week.
Trump tweeted that he abruptly canceled the summit with the group, which caught many people by surprise since the talks were scheduled just days ahead of the 18th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
“Who thought it was a good idea for the president of the United States to meet with Taliban leaders who have the blood of thousands of Americans on their hands just three days before 9/11?” Wallace asked.
Pompeo defended the plan, saying Trump is committed to bringing an end to the violence in Afghanistan, working with the Taliban and the Afghan government to form a workable peace deal. But in the meantime, Pompeo said the peace talks are dead.
“The president ultimately made the decision,” Pompeo said. “He said, ‘I want to talk to President Ghani. I want to talk to these Taliban negotiators. I want to look them in the eye, I want to see if we can get the final outcome that we needed so that we could sign off on the deal.'”
Pompeo explained earlier on to CNN’s State of the Union that the cancellation came after the Taliban claimed responsibility for a suicide attack this week in Kabul, Afghanistan, that killed a dozen people, including an American soldier.
