President Donald Trump spent the Thanksgiving holiday with the troops stationed in Afghanistan in a surprise visit. During his interaction with American troops in the Bagram Airbase near Kabul, Trump also said Washington has resumed talks with the Taliban insurgents. In his first visit to Afghanistan as President, Trump served turkey to soldiers and posed with them for photographs.
There are some 13,000 American troops stationed in Afghanistan, nearly 20 years after President George Bush sent in troops after the 9/11 attacks. The US invaded Afghanistan to remove the Taliban, which had sheltered al-Qaida leaders like Osama bin Laden, from power. More than 150,000 people have so far died in the Afghan war. As many as 2,400 US soldiers also died in the conflict.
'Best and bravest warriors'
"There's nowhere I'd rather celebrate this Thanksgiving than right here with the toughest, strongest, best and bravest warriors on the face of the earth ... I've just come from serving Thanksgiving dinner to some of you ... and we had a good time," Trump said.
Trump, who also met Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani, said the US is back at the table with the Taliban. "The Taliban wants to make a deal and we're meeting with them and we're saying it has to be a cease fire and ... now they do want to do a ceasefire," he told reporters, AFP reported.
Trump's announcement on Taliban surprised diplomatic circles as he had denounced the peace talks as dead just three months ago. He had also said in September that the invitation for the insurgents for a meeting in Washington was cancelled following the death of a US soldier.
Plan to reduce the US troop size is still in place
Trump also said the plan to reduce the US troop size is still in place. He said during his speech at the airbase that he would bring down the troop presence to 8,600. "We're going to stay until such time as we have a deal or we have total victory, and they want to make a deal very badly," he added.
Ghani also endorsed Trump's plan to restart talks with the Taliban. "Both sides underscored that if the Taliban are sincere in their commitment to reaching a peace deal, they must accept a cease-fire," Ghani said, according to the Voice of America.
