Trump Says Afghan Peace Talks ‘Proceeding Well’

The U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that negotiations in Afghanistan are going well, after the U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad earlier this week said that there had been significant progress in talks to end 17 years of war in the country.

Negotiations “are proceeding well in Afghanistan after 18 years of fighting,” Trump wrote on Twitter. He did not address any possible peace deal with the Taliban or the presence of U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

“Fighting continues but the people of Afghanistan want peace in this never-ending war. We will soon see if talks will be successful?..” Trump said.

Trump’s comments regarding Afghan peace process come two days after U.S. special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad said that the United States and the Taliban have reached “agreements in principle”, following six days of talks with the armed group in Qatar.

He said his meeting with the Taliban in Doha was much better than previous meetings and that has made significant progress in this regard.

“We made progress on vital issues in our discussions and agreed to agreements in principle on a couple of very important issues. There is a lot more work to be done before we can say we have succeeded in our efforts but I believe for the first time I can say that we have made significant progress,” Khalilzad said.