US signs deal with Taliban

US troops will start withdrawing from Afghanistan immediately, President Donald Trump says after the US signed a deal with the Taliban.

“Today. They will start immediately,” Mr Trump said on Saturday at the White House, in response to a question about when the soldiers will start to exit the country.

“No one should be criticising this deal, after 19 years,” Mr Trump said, referring to the length of the US involvement in the conflict in Afghanistan.

Acknowledging a military stalemate after nearly two decades of conflict, the US signed the peace agreement with the Taliban to end America’s longest war and bring US troops home after they invaded in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The historic deal, signed by chief negotiators from the two sides and witnessed by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, could see the withdrawal of all American and allied forces in the next 14 months and allow Mr Trump to keep a key campaign pledge to extract the US from “endless wars”. But it could also easily unravel, particularly if the Taliban fail to meet their commitments.

At the White House, Mr Trump told reporters the US deserves credit for having helped Afghanistan take a step toward peace.

He spoke cautiously of the deal’s prospects for success and cautioned the Taliban against violating their commitments.

“We think we’ll be successful in the end,” he said, referring to all-Afghan peace talks and a final US exit. He said he will be “meeting personally with Taliban leaders in the nottoo-distant future,” and described the group as “tired of war”. He said he thinks they are serious about the deal they signed but warned that if it fails, the US could restart combat.

“If bad things happen, we’ll go back” in with military firepower, Mr Trump said.