‘We are ready for round II of talks with USA,’ asserts Taliban ‘Modi a friend of mine, I like him very much,’ says Trump in Woodward book Lanka national airline removes nuts after Prez Sirisena’s rage

ISLAMABAD: The Taliban are ready for a second round of talks with the U.S., possibly this month, which is likely to focus on prisoner exchange, confidence building measures, and ways to move from backdoor meetings to formal negotiations, said Taliban officials in separate interviews in recent days.

Speaking on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media, Taliban officials recounted details of a meeting held in July with Alice Wells, Washington's top envoy to the region.

One of the officials said the meeting ended with a plan to meet again in September. The U.S. has refused to confirm or deny that meeting.

Both the U.S. and Afghan government have insisted that talks on Afghanistan's future would be Afghan-led, while direct talks between Washington and the Taliban which the insurgents have long demanded are said to be a stepping stone toward Afghan-toafghan talks. NEW DELHI: In the latest book by renowned journalist Bob Woodward, US President Donald Trump has described Prime Minister Narendra Modi as his friend who told him that the US has got nothing out of Afghanistan. Woodward in his book ‘Fear: Trump in the White House' that hit the stores on Tuesday, has portrayed a dysfunctional Trump administration.

“Prime Minister Modi of India is a friend of mine, he (Trump) said. I like him very much,” Trump is quoted as saying by Woodward. The book has created a controversy as Donald Trump and his office have criticised the book for misquoting the US president.

“The Woodward book is a scam. I don't talk the way I am quoted. If I did I would not have been elected President. These quotes were made up. The author uses every trick in the book to demean and belittle. I wish the people could see the real facts – and our country is doing GREAT!,” Trump tweeted on September 7. The White House has described the book as “reckless” and a work of fiction with the president calling it a “joke”. According to Woodward, Trump made this comment during a Situation Room meeting in the White House on July 19 last year, nearly three weeks after he had a very successful meeting with Modi at the White House on June 26.

“He (Modi) told me the US has gotten nothing out of Afghanistan. Nothing. Afghanistan has massive mineral wealth. We don't take it like others – like China,” Trump is quoted as saying during the July 19 situation room meeting. “The US needed to get some of Afghanistan's valuable minerals in exchange for any support. I'm not making a deal on anything until we get minerals. And the US ‘must stop payments to Pakistan until they cooperate',” Trump said.

Six months later, Trump in a new year tweet on January 1 announced stopping all military aid to Pakistan arguing that it is not taking action against terrorist groups operating from its soil. According to the book, Trump told his national security aide that US is losing in Afghanistan. “We're losing big in Afghanistan. It's a disaster. Our allies aren't helping. Ghost soldiers – those paid but not serving – are ripping us off. NATO is a disaster and a waste, he said. The soldiers had told him that NATO staff were totally dysfunctional,” the book says. COLOMBO: Sri Lanka's national airline said Wednesday it has stopped serving cashews after the country's president flew into a rage over nuts served to him on a flight to Colombo.

"Returning from Kathmandu, I was served some cashews on board a Srilankan flight, but it was so bad even a dog wouldn't eat it," Maithripala Sirisena said on Monday.

"I want to know who authorised the purchase of these nuts," the president told a meeting of farmers.

An airline spokesman said it has responded by clearing its stock of cashews -- only served in business class -- and would change its Dubai-based supplier.

This is not the first time that airline nuts have prompted outrage.

In 2014 a South Korean heiress famously ordered a Korean Air plane back to its gate to eject a cabin crew member after she was served nuts still in their packet.

Last month Colombo renewed its search for an equity investor in the loss-making and heavily indebted Srilankan after the International Monetary Fund warned that the airline was dragging the country's economy down.

In May last year, attempts to privatise the carrier collapsed after a US private equity firm withdrew its bid for a 49-percent stake.

The airline was profitable before Mahinda Rajapakse, when he was president, cancelled a management agreement with Emirates in 2008 following a personal dispute.

The carrier had refused to bump fare-paying passengers and give their seats to Rajapakse's family.