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Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

In Surprise Visit..Trump Spends Thanksgiving in Afghanistan!


Thu 28 Nov 2019 | 10:57 PM
Yassmine Elsayed

US President Donald Trump made an unannounced, surprise visit to Afghanistan to spend Thanksgiving with US troops.

Speaking about the longest war where the US has engaged in, Trump said he believed that the Taliban would agree to a ceasefire.

The surprise visit is the first for the US President to Afghanistan since taking office.

"The Taliban want an agreement," Trump said. "We are meeting them and saying there must be a ceasefire, but they didn't want it and now I think they want a ceasefire. It's probably going to be like this."

The US presidential plane landed at Bagram Air Base after an overnight flight from Washington, during which Trump was accompanied by White House national security adviser Robert O'Brien, a small group of advisers, presidential guard officers and a group of reporters representing media organizations.

[caption id="attachment_93797" align="aligncenter" width="356"]Trump with soldiers in Afghanistan Trump with soldiers in Afghanistan[/caption]

Upon arriving, Trump met with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and addressed US forces.

Trump gave turkey meat to some US soldiers and sat for Thanksgiving dinner with them, exchanging conversations and taking pictures.

Earlier, the US was involved in failed attempts to broker peace deal with Taliban, that would have secured ending the role of the US troops there.

According to news reports, a peace agreement between the US and the Taliban, which had been “agreed in principle” was due to be signed in Doha in September. But the US president called it off, also cancelling a planned visit by Taliban leaders to Camp David.

Trump tweeted that no deal would be achieved unless a ceasefire was reached first. This poured cold water over the heads of those Taliban who had already started beating the drum of victory.