WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he has accelerated negotiations with the Taliban and other groups to reach a political settlement in Afghanistan.

Trump chose his second State of the Union address to highlight his administration’s decision to initiate direct talks with the Taliban, saying that if the process continued, the United States would be able to withdraw American troops from Afghanistan and focus on counterterrorism efforts.

“We do not know whether we will achieve an agreement — but we do know that after two decades of war the hour has come to at least try for peace. And the other side would like to do the same thing. It is time,” Trump said.

“The opposing side is also very happy to be negotiating,” he added.

The Taliban, however, are refusing to accept America’s two key demands: holding direct talks with the Kabul government and announcing a ceasefire before the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan.

Vows to get wall on US-Mexico border built

The main issue that Trump focused on was also the most contentious — a wall on the US-Mexico border — which led to an unprecedented 35-day government shutdown in Washington. The dispute also delayed the State of the Union address by at least two weeks.

Although Trump called for ending divisive politics, particularly in the US Congress, most women in the chamber were dressed in white to show how Democrats had elected unprecedented number of women in the November elections. Republican women representatives sat on the other side of the aisle, wearing colourful dresses, although the president’s daughter, Tiffany Trump, was also wearing white.

“In the past, most of the people in this room voted for a wall. But the proper wall was never built. I will get it built,” he declared. “This is a smart, strategic, see-through steel barrier — not just a simple concrete wall.” However, he did not declare a national emergency to build the wall, as speculated.

The main thrust of the foreign policy agenda that Trump highlighted in his speech was his pledge to withdraw American troops from Afghanistan and Syria.

But he also spoke about undoing the Iran nuclear deal, suspending a missiles treaty with Russia, the possibility of a second meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and resisting “socialist” policies in Venezuela where his administration has recognised the opposition leader as the president.

“In Afghanistan, my administration is holding constructive talks with a number of Afghan groups, including the Taliban. As we make progress in these negotiations, we will be able to reduce our troops’ presence and focus on counterterrorism,” he said.

This marks the first time a US president has acknowledged talking not just to the Taliban but also to others, although Trump did not name the groups US officials were talking to.

“Our brave troops have now been fighting in the Middle East for almost 19 years. In Afghanistan and Iraq, nearly 7,000 American heroes have given their lives,” said Trump while explaining why he wants to bring his troops home.

“More than 52,000 Americans have been badly wounded. We have spent more than $7 trillion in the Middle East,” he added.

Trump recalled that as a candidate for president in 2016, he pledged to withdraw American troops from those regions because “great nations do not fight endless wars”.

Claiming that he had now liberated more than 20,000 square miles in Iraq and Syria that IS militants once controlled, Trump declared: “It is time to give our brave warriors in Syria a warm welcome home.”

He did not claim victory in Afghanistan and instead used the recently held US-Taliban talks in Doha and the UAE for justifying his plan to pull out troops from there as well.

“I have also accelerated our negotiations to reach a political settlement in Afghanistan. Our troops have fought with unmatched valour — and thanks to their bravery, we are now able to pursue a political solution to this long and bloody conflict,” he said.

The US president, who was facing a divided Congress for the first time, called for rejecting “the politics of revenge, resistance and retribution” at home and urged Democrats to call off “ridiculous partisan investigations” into his alleged dealings with Russia during the 2016 election campaign.

Published in Dawn, February 7th, 2019