Trump says he had a 'very good talk' with Taliban leader

Donald Trump.
(Image credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

President Trump spoke with one of the co-founders of the Taliban on Tuesday, just days after the United States signed an agreement with the militant organization calling for the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan.

Trump is believed to be the first U.S. president to ever directly talk with a Taliban leader, The Associated Press reports. The Taliban's spokesman tweeted that Trump had a 35-minute conversation with Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, one of the Taliban's co-founders. Trump said they had "a very good talk," adding, "the relationship is very good that I have with the mullah. We had a good long conversation today and, you know, they want to cease the violence."

On Saturday, the U.S. and Taliban signed an agreement outlining commitments the Taliban must meet in order for the U.S. to withdraw 13,000 troops from Afghanistan within 14 months, including cutting ties with terrorist groups like Al Qaeda.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Continue reading for free

We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.

Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.

Catherine Garcia

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.