Taliban Attacks Test Trump as He Seeks to End Afghan War
Taliban Attacks Test Trump as He Seeks to End Afghan War by Deb Riechmann – Associated Press
Relentless, deadly attacks by the Taliban, including a car bombing Thursday that killed a U.S. service member, are testing President Donald Trump’s resolve to withdraw troops from Afghanistan and end what he has called America’s “endless” war.
The death of the American — the fourth U.S. service member killed in the past two weeks in Afghanistan — could be used to argue that it is long past time to bring U.S. troops home.
But the Afghan government and others worry that the attacks during ongoing U.S.-Taliban talks are evidence that the insurgent group cannot be trusted to end the violence and renounce international terror groups like al-Qaida and the Islamic State.
“We want to make sure we are negotiating a peace, not simply a withdrawal,” House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel said in a letter Thursday to Trump’s peace envoy, Zalmay Khalilzad…