Taliban welcome tweet from Trump

ISLAMABAD — The Afghan Taliban on Thursday welcomed a tweet from President Trump in which he promised to have the last of U. S. troops out of Afghanistan by Christmas — or at least by the end of the year.

If that withdrawal happens, it would be months ahead of schedule and the tweet made no reference to a Taliban promise to fight terrorist groups — a previous prerequisite for an American withdrawal.

In a tweet that seemed to contradict his national security adviser, Trump said “we should have the small remaining number of our BRAVE Men and Women serving in Afghanistan home by Christmas.”

On Wednesday, National Security Adviser Robert O“Brien, speaking of American forces in Afghanistan, told an audience in Las Vegas that “as of today, there are under 5,000 and that will go to 2,500 by early next year.”

Yet when asked about his tweet, Trump told Fox Business Channel: “We’re down to 4,000 troops in Afghanistan. I’ll have them home by the end of the year. They’re coming home, you know, as we speak. Nineteen years is enough. They’re acting as policemen, OK? They’re not acting as troops.”

America’s exit from Afghanistan after 19 years was laid out in an agreement Washington reached with the Taliban in February. However, that agreement said U. S. troops would be out of Afghanistan in 18 months, provided the Taliban honored a commitment to fight terrorist groups, with most attention seemingly focused on the Islamic State group’s affiliate in the country.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed said Trump’s statement was welcome and he considered it a positive step for the implementation of the peace agreement between the U. S. and the Taliban.

The Taliban are “committed to the contents of the agreement and hope for good and positive relations with all countries, including the U. S, in the future,” he said.

Trump’s surprise tweet late Wednesday came as the Taliban and the Afghan governmentappointed negotiating team are holding historic peace talks in Doha, Qatar.

Those talks have been painfully slow as both sides have become bogged down on the intricacies of how they would go forward with reaching an agreement. Weeks have been spent discussing Islamic jurisprudence and how it will impact negotiations.

Still, both sides have stayed at the negotiating table even as Washington’s peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad last week returned to the region. Little information of substance has emerged from the talks.

Trump’s comments caught most Afghan observers by surprise and the Afghan government did not immediately respond to to the tweet.