KABUL/NEW DELHI: The Taliban warned on Tuesday that Afghanistan would become “a graveyard” for the United States after President Donald Trump cleared the way for thousands more American troops to be sent to the war-torn country.

“If America doesn’t withdraw its troops from Afghanistan, soon Afghanistan will become another graveyard for this superpower in the 21st century,” Zabiullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Taliban in Afghanistan, said in a statement.

He added that America should think of an exit strategy “instead of continuing the war”.

“As long as there is one US soldier in our land, and they continue to impose war on us, we, with a high morale will continue our jihad,” Mujahid said.

Trump backtracked from his promise to rapidly end America’s longest war in his first formal address to the nation as commander-in-chief late on Monday, though he did not offer specifics.

He said he had concluded “the consequences of a rapid exit are both predictable and unacceptable”, leaving a vacuum that terrorists “would instantly fill”.

While Trump refused to offer detailed troop numbers, senior White House officials said he had already authorised his defence secretary to deploy up to 3,900 more troops to Afghanistan.

Earlier Mujahid had dismissed the strategy as vague and “nothing new”.

“For now I can tell you there was nothing new in his speech and it was very unclear,” he said. A senior Taliban commander said that Trump was just perpetuating the “arrogant behaviour” of previous presidents such as George W. Bush.

“He is just wasting American soldiers. We know how to defend our country. It will not change anything.

“For generations we have fought this war, we are not scared, we are fresh and we will continue this war until our last breath,” he said.

He added that the statement proved the current Afghan government “is a US puppet”.

The insurgents signalled their intentions minutes after Trump spoke by claiming the US embassy in Kabul had been the target of a rocket attack late on Monday.

The rocket landed in a field in the city’s diplomatic quarter, with no casualties reported.

Trump also lambasted US ally Pakistan for offering safe haven to “agents of chaos”.

A commander from the Taliban-allied Haqqani network said that Trump “has proved it’s a Crusade”.

“His statement has proved that he wants to eliminate the entire Muslim umma (community),” he said.

Prior to Trump’s announcement the Taliban had written an open letter warning him not to send more troops and calling for the complete withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan.

Afghanistan welcomes Trump vow to stay ‘without time limit’

Afghanistan on Tuesday welcomed President Donald Trump’s move to commit thousands more troops to America’s longest war.

President Ashraf Ghani, speaking to troops in southern Kandahar, birthplace of the Taliban, said Trump’s first formal address as commander-in-chief showed that America was “with us, without any time limit”.

“You cannot win this war,” Ghani told the Taliban, calling on them to join talks and saying his country wants peace with neighbouring Pakistan.

India welcomes US commitment to Kabul

India welcomed President Donald Trump’s plan to increase US engagement in Afghanistan on Tuesday, saying it shares Washington’s concerns about a safe haven for terrorists in its backyard. “We welcome Presi­dent Trump’s determination to enhance efforts to overcome the challenges facing Afghanistan and confronting issues of safe havens and other forms of cross-border support enjoyed by terrorists,” the Indian foreign ministry said in a statement.

“India shares these concerns and objectives.” New Delhi, already the fifth largest donor of aid to Afghanistan, said it would continue its efforts, “including in partnership with other countries”.

Published in Dawn, August 23rd, 2017