Trump kills peace negotiations,Taliban threatens US troops in response

The President of the United States, Donald Trump, had been engaging in "secret" peace talks with Taliban representatives. Trump called off further discussions after the death of another US soldier in a Taliban orchestrated attack. In retaliation, a Taliban spokesperson has threatened the US troops with further attacks.

Trump was supposed to meet with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Taliban representatives at Camp David, Maryland. However, Trump tweeted that he would no longer be having the meeting due to an attack that caused the death of a US soldier.

The terror organisation had not taken the end of the negotiations well. Right after Trump publicly cancelled the peace talks, Taliban representatives threatened Washington with "consequences." Since Trump does not seem bothered by the threats, the organisation has resorted to threatening the US troops stationed in Afghanistan.

Al Jazeera spoke to a Taliban spokesperson, Suhail Shaheen, who said that it was agreed that the Taliban would offer safe passage to the US troops if the peace treaty was signed. Since Trump had walked away from finalising the treaty, the organisation was no longer obligated to ensure the safety of the US troops. They can attack the soldiers if and when they feel the need to.

Camp David was not the first of the peace meetings between the US and the Taliban. Nine rounds of negotiations had taken place in Doha, Qatar. The Taliban and US special representatives seemed to have come to an agreement by the last meeting. The final phase, which was the meeting with Trump, would have ended the 18-year-war and brought US and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) troops out of Afghanistan.

If the treaty had been finalised, it would guarantee four clauses: 1. The Taliban would not allow foreign groups to use Afghanistan as a base while conducting attacks internationally. 2. NATO and US troops would withdraw from the country. 3. There would be a dialogue between the Taliban and the Afghan government. 4. A ceasefire would be permanently observed.

There are speculations that the cancellation was Trump's tactic to pressure the Taliban. Even though Trump said that he considered the negotiations "dead," there could be a chance of negotiations resuming if the Taliban ceased their attacks. Ghani's interview after the cancellation of the meeting sent the same message across.

With the deal off the table, the Taliban had threatened further attacks as a part of their 18-year-war against foreign occupation.