And during each appearance, the U.S. secretary of state told the same story about the presidential tweets that in one minute on Saturday night had terminated, for now, the most serious diplomatic effort ever to end America’s longest war - just three days before the 18th anniversary of the terrorist attacks that precipitated the conflict.
That all changed when the Taliban killed an American soldier in an attack in the Afghan capital, Kabul, last week. The brazen bid to build leverage ahead of the talks, Pompeo noted with regret, sabotaged the Taliban’s stature in Trump’s eyes as a good-faith negotiating partner. So the president, as he is wont to do, abruptly called the whole thing off.
Today Trump defended his decisions to host the Taliban at Camp David and then suddenly scrap the plan, both of which he described as “my idea.” He suggested he was still interested in an eventual negotiated solution with the group, noting that diplomatic meetings are the only way to conclude wars, while dashing hopes for one in the near term.
