Donald Trump Planning To Meet American Troops Deployed In Afghanistan

The United States President Donald Trump, on Thursday, hinted that he is planning to make a visit to Afghanistan to meet the American troops deployed in the country.

While addressing service members in a Thanksgiving telephone conference, Trump told one colonel deployed to the country that he will see him in Afghanistan.

“I’ll see you back when you’re in the United States or maybe I’ll see you over there,” the President said, reported MoneyControl.com.

When the journalists asked Trump when he would make the trip, He simply said, “At the appropriate time, we’ll be doing some very interesting thing.”

He added that the US is currently in “very, very strong negotiations” regarding Afghanistan.

“We are talking about peace,” he said, without mentioning if those talks were direct with the Taliban. “If something happens, that would be a great thing. I would be very happy about that.”

Notably, Presidential trips to conflict zones are usually cloaked in secrecy for security reasons. Vice President Mike Pence made a surprise trip to Bagram Air Base to visit American troops in December last year. Trump has not made such a visit even after nearly two years in office.

The United States has some 14,000 military personnel deployed in Afghanistan. The troops were stationed there after the September 11, 2001 attacks. They are serving in the NATO-led Resolute Support training and advisory mission as well as in separate counter-terrorism operations against militant groups like Islamic State.

The Taliban claim that they have had three meetings with US officials in Qatar in recent months, but the same has not been confirmed by the US. Zalmay Khalilzad, who is the US special adviser to Afghanistan, recently said that he was coptimistic about the possibility of reaching a peace agreement ahead of the upcoming April elections.