MONITORING (SW) – The Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid has reportedly told CBS News in a phone interview that the group hope Donald Trump win the forthcoming presidential polls.
“We hope he will win the election and wind up U.S. military presence in Afghanistan”, the US broadcaster quoted Zabihullah Mujahed as saying. The militant group expressed some concern about Mr. Trump’s bout with the coronavirus. “When we heard about Trump being COVID-19 positive, we got worried for his health, but seems he is getting better,” another Taliban senior leader told CBS News.
Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh said Saturday that they “reject” the Taliban support. “The Taliban should know that the president will always protect American interests by any means necessary,” Murtaugh said.
The Taliban’s enthusiasm for Mr. Trump is grounded in the goal they share of getting U.S. troops out of Afghanistan after 19 years of war – a longtime promise of the president, the CBS News reported.
There are now fewer than 5,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, and national security adviser Robert O’Brien has said that number would drop to 2,500 by early next year.
The Trump administration signed a historic pact with the Taliban in February in which the U.S. and its allies set a timetable for U.S. troops to withdraw by the spring of 2021. The pact requires the Taliban to break from al Qaeda and negotiate a power-sharing deal with Afghan government rivals.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reiterated last month, after meeting with Taliban co-founder and political deputy Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar in Doha that the U.S. was set for a full withdrawal from Afghanistan by April or May of 2021.
This week, President Trump said all troops should be “home by Christmas,” although it is unclear if that is actually expected to happen or if he was simply reiterating his position on wanting to bring troops home.
“We should have the small remaining number of our BRAVE Men and Women serving in Afghanistan home by Christmas,” he tweeted.
According to the report, that timeline is at odds with the advice of U.S. military commanders, who do not believe it is safe to reduce troop levels below 4,500 unless the Taliban breaks with al Qaeda and reduces the level of violence. It is also unclear how it will affect talks peace between the Afghan government and Taliban negotiators in Qatar.
Civilians continue to be caught up in ongoing violence in Afghanistan, many in Taliban attacks. From January 1 to June 30 this year, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) documented 2,176 civilian injuries and 1,282 civilian deaths due to the conflict, it added.
The Taliban noted it thinks highly of Mr. Trump’s “America first” creed. “It is the slogan of Trump from the start that they are not cops for the world and don’t want a single flag and anthem for the globe, but their priority is America,” Mujahid said.
Meanwhile, on his twitter feed Zabihullah Mujahed has rejected the report. “US news outlet @CBSNews has interpreted & published my remarks incorrectly. Nothing of the sort has been communicated as publicized by them”.
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