U.S. forces set sights on Taliban leaders

Violence set to increase after talks called off

ISLAMABAD • U.S. forces are preparing to redouble efforts to target Taliban commanders in Afghanistan, in an attempt to put more pressure on the insurgents after U.S. President Donald Trump called off negotiations.

U.S. commanders are expected to step up the tempo of their campaign of airstrikes and raids targeting militant leaders, military sources said.

The Taliban is expected to respond with its own increase in operations, leaving Afghanistan braced for intensified violence in the coming weeks.

“(The Americans) have said they are really going to go after their leaders now, ” said one source.

Both sides refused to halt fighting while talks continued in Doha over the past year, as they attempted to convert military pressure into negotiating strength. “In the last 10 days we’ve killed over 1,000 Taliban,” said Mike Pompeo, secretary of state, after Trump cancelled talks. “If you’re the Taliban, conditions have been worsening — and they’re about to get worse,” he added.

Asked if that meant a rise in military activity, he said: “No one should underestimate President Trump’s commitment to achieving those goals.”

The Taliban continued its own campaign of indiscriminate bombing during the talks and warned that Trump’s cancellation of negotiations would lead to more bloodshed.

The move “will harm America more than anyone else,” the group said in a statement. “It will damage its reputation, unmask its anti-peace policy to the world even more, increase its loss of life and treasure, and present its political interactions as erratic.”

Scattered violence continued across the country Monday. A roadside bomb blast in the capital Kabul wounded three civilians.

Zalmay Khalilzad, Trump’s lead negotiator, last week announced that a deal had been finalized “in principle,” which would involve U.S. troops beginning to withdraw from America’s longest war. Trump had invited both the insurgents and the Afghan government to a meeting at his presidential retreat, Camp David, where he hoped to seal the deal and make an announcement. Trump said he cancelled the gathering after a Taliban bomb blast killed a U.S. soldier. But the Taliban said it had rejected the invitation, refusing to appear alongside the Afghan government, which it denounces as a U.S. puppet regime.

Both the U.S. and Taliban appeared to leave the door open to a resumption of talks later. “I’m not pessimistic,” Pompeo said. “I’ve watched the Taliban do things and say things they’ve not been permitted to do before.”