Taliban

The Taliban said more Americans would die after Trump said he was canceling a secret Camp David meeting aimed at ending America's longest war.

Trump said he had been ready to meet Taliban leaders on Sunday but cancelled the visit following the death of a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan last week.

"I don't like the symbolism of the Taliban coming to Camp David," Jesse Watters said.

The hashtag was trending on Twitter after a secret peace talks meeting with the Taliban was canceled by Trump.

Over 40 retired generals and admirals write to the President to list what will make the difference between a strong and effective Afghan deal, and a weak and symbolic one that doesn't.

"It reveals that there is no process in this administration, there is no serious policymaking process," former CIA Director John Brennan said.

A Taliban spokesperson criticized Trump's decision to cancel a planned meeting with the group's representatives that was scheduled for this weekend.

Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger and Florida Rep. Michael Waltz both had tough words for the commander in chief after he invited Taliban leaders to Camp David.

"We have consistently stressed that genuine peace is possible when the Taliban stop the killing of Afghans, embrace an inclusive ceasefire, and enter into direct negotiations with the Afghan government," Afghan government spokesman Sediq Sediqqi wrote Sunday.

The president said leaders from the Taliban were secretly supposed to fly into the United States on Saturday night before he cancelled it.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo uses an Obama-era line to describe al-Qaeda and the current situation in Afghanistan. Organizations and officials claim Pompeo is underestimating their capabilities and influence.

Negotiators are reportedly close to an initial agreement that will open dialogue between the Taliban and the Afghan government with a view to ending almost two decades of conflict.

An American Speical Forces soldier was killed in Afghanistan Thursday as violence continues throughout the region amid ongoing peace negotiations between U.S. and Taliban officials.

"Given the Taliban's sordid history and ongoing violence, it strains credulity to believe it can be a partner for peace," a top House Republican wrote in an op-ed.

Newsweek has learned from senior defense officials that U.S. forces have been ordered to stop targeting the Taliban and advising Afghan allies as thousands of troops were set to withdraw from the country.

The group warned Trump that multiple historical empires have taken the dream of victory in Afghanistan "to the grave."

"Afghanistan would be wiped off the face of the earth, it would be gone," Trump said on Monday.

"Al Qaeda attacked us on 9/11. That's why I and so many other people joined the military, to go after Al Qaeda. Not the Taliban," Gabbard explained.

Afghanistan will likely never become an American-style democracy. But the U.S. must ensure its peace agreement with the Taliban allows no return to the status quo ante.

While not uncommon, the request comes at a moment of high tension in Washington as Democrats grow increasingly frustrated by what they view as the Trump administration's obstruction of their oversight responsibilities.

"We have not begun any peace talks with the Afghan government at all," retired four-star General Jack Keane said. "That is going to be very, very complicated, and we've got a long road in front of us."

"I'm sad that I'm losing track of all the people I know who have been killed in action. I'm sad and angry," said a former U.S. Army EOD soldier. "I'm sad that he's gone and angry that I can't switch places with him."

The operation that resulted in the two deaths is under investigation, the NATO Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan said.

"I'm going to keep saying this. This is what the Taliban does."

By hosting direct talks with the Taliban, a former U.S. ambassador to Kabul said, "We have ourselves delegitimized the government we claim to support."

The drafted framework is tentative but appears to be the closest the parties have come to reaching an agreement to end a 17-year war that has killed tens of thousands.

U.S. Army Sergeant Cameron A. Meddock, whose wife was expecting their first child, was on his second deployment to Afghanistan.

"We cannot recall a more absurd misstatement of history by an American President," The Wall Street Journal wrote, criticizing the president for a rambling, dishonest characterization of the Soviet presence in Afghanistan.

"The reason Russia was in Afghanistan was because terrorists were going into Russia," Trump said. "They were right to be there."

More than two dozen people were killed in Kabul on Monday when gunmen stormed a government building and engaged security forces in an hours-long, coordinated assault in the heart of the Afghan capital.