MONITORING (SW) – US President Donald Trump has said once again he is not looking to ‘kill hundreds of thousands of people in Afghanistan many of them totally innocent’ as he addressed the joint session of Congress.
Trump renewed his pledge to bring back US troops from Afghanistan as his administration aims to end the United States's longest war. "We are working to finally end America's longest war and bring our troops back home," Trump said on Tuesday during his State of the Union address to US Congress.
The US president offered his blessing for continuing negotiations with the Taliban armed group, which has been fighting the US-led NATO troops and the Afghan forces since 2001 when the Afghan group was deposed from power.
The talks between the two sides have failed to make headway in recent weeks, with Washington insisting on reduction in violence as a condition to reach a deal, al-Jazeera reported.
Trump has long questioned the wisdom of keeping troops overseas and has described the war in Afghanistan launched after the September 11, 2001 attacks as a drain on blood and treasure, the report said. But last year he abruptly said he had cancelled a previously unannounced summit at the Camp David presidential retreat with the Taliban because of an attack that killed an American soldier, it added.
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