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Trump’s surprise visit to Afghanistan voices hope for ceasefire

President Donald Trump made a surprise Thanksgiving visit to U.S. troops in Afghanistan on Thursday.
President Donald Trump made a surprise Thanksgiving visit to U.S. troops in Afghanistan on Thursday.

On Thursday, President Donald Trump made a surprise Thanksgiving visit to U.S. troops in Afghanistan. He mentioned about Taliban saying that he believed Taliban insurgents would agree to a ceasefire in America’s longest war.

This is Trump’s first visit to Afghanistan since becoming president in 2016. Interestingly, he makes the visit a week after a prisoner swap between Washington and Kabul.  The prisoner swap has raised hopes for a long elusive peace deal.

After arriving in Afghanistan, President Trump told reporters that “The Taliban wants to make a deal and we are meeting with them.” Furthermore, he mentioned about his repeated efforts to approach Taliban and said, “We say it has to be a ceasefire and they didn’t want to do a ceasefire.”

 Although “now they want to do a ceasefire,” said Trump. He also hopes that “It will probably work out that way.” According to reports, Taliban leaders told that the group has again been holding meetings with senior U.S. officials in Doha since last weekend. The Taliban leader added that they could soon resume formal peace talks.

Late in the evening on Thursday, the Air Force One, presidential plane touched down at Bagram Airfield. The president was accompanied by White House national security adviser Robert O’Brien, a small group of aides and Secret Service agents.

Upon his arrival, he was greeted by U.S. Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. President Trump also met with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. He joined them for Thanksgiving dinner and served turkey to some U.S. troops before sitting down to eat.

Along with this, he chatted and took picture with some of the U.S. forces deployed there. Post-dinner he said, “What a great job you do. It’s an honour to be here.”