“They didn’t want to do a cease-fire, but now they do want to do a cease-fire,” Trump said of the militants. ADBut on Friday neither the Taliban nor the government of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani indicated that a cease-fire was near, or even being discussed in resumed U.S. negotiations. The Taliban also committed to beginning direct talks with the Afghan government, with a cease-fire at the top of the agenda. The announcement threw into doubt Trump’s hopes of drawing down the number of troops in Afghanistan, a pledge made during his 2016 campaign. But Trump said that over the past few months “we’ve hit them so hard, they’ve never been hit this hard.

Source: Washington Post November 29, 2019 22:18 UTC