Trump says peace deal with Taliban is "dead" after bombing kills 12, including US soldier

US President Donald Trump said peace talks with the Taliban are “dead” after a bombing in Kabul killed 12, including a US soldier.

“As far as I’m concerned they’re dead,” Trump said from the White House lawn when asked about the peace talks.

The president’s remarks indicate an end to the talks, which both sides said had made progress in ending the longest-ever war in US history.

Trump announced in a tweet Saturday his decision to cancel the talks, which were to take place at Camp David, a presidential retreat outside Washington.

The comments on Monday reiterated Trump’s previous statement that he abruptly called off the talks due to the bombing.

“I said there’s no way I’m meeting on that basis,” Trump said Monday.

The Taliban said that a peace agreement had been finalized and that the sides had been preparing for an announcement prior to Trump’s decision to cancel the Camp David talks.

Since July 2018 the US and the Taliban have been negotiating a political resolution to a conflict that began shortly after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the US.

A draft agreement called for the US to withdraw 5,000 of the estimated 14,000 US soldiers stationed in Afghanistan in 135 days as a first instalment.

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Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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