Bagram - Latest News Update, Information, Photos & Videos on Bagram at Lokmat Times

US President Donald Trump made a surprise visit to Afghstan on Thursday evening and met American troops stationed here and gave his Thanksgiving greetings to them before sitting down with his Afghan counterpart Ashraf Gh for a bilateral meeting.During the meet, Trump said that he has revived the peace talks with the Taliban, which came less than three months after the US President dramatically halted negotiations with the group."The Taliban wants to make a deal, and we're meeting with them," Trump was quoted by the New York Times as saying with Gh by his side."We are going to stay until such time as we have a deal, or we have total victory, and they want to make to make a deal very badly," he said while reiterating his decision to reduce the presence of US troops in Afghstan to 8,600 from the current 12,000-13,000.Trump made his first impromptu visit to Afghstan, arriving in a darkened jet from Florida after 8:30 pm (local time). He carried out the tradition of feeding turkey and mashed potatoes to the US troops stationed at the Bagram airbase and mingled with them.The US President also posed for photographs with the servicemen and delivered his remarks in front of several hundred US soldiers at an aircraft hangar, celebrating Washington's military achievements.Trump said that the Taliban is "now willing" to agree to a ceasefire, something that the Afghan government has been insisting upon and was a sticky point during earlier talks."We are saying it has to be a ceasefire and they didn't want to do a ceasefire. Now they do want to do a ceasefire. I believe it will probably work out that way," he said of the Taliban.His comments came after the Taliban released an American and Australian professor in exchange for the release of three Taliban prisoners by the Afghan government. The Taliban also released 10 Afghan soldiers earlier this week.The two professors, as part of a prisoner swap deal between the group and the Afghan government under which the latter released three terrorists, including Anas Haqq, from Bagram prison.The exchange of prisoners took place even as there was fresh hope of revival of the peace talks after Trump in September abruptly ended the talks with the Taliban citing continued attacks by the terror group.Later, Gh joined Trump onstage for his remarks and delivered an almost campaign-style speech, where he lauded Trump as "the architect" of a strategy for "wiping out Al-Qaeda" in Afghstan and for the killing of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.Apart from cancelling the negotiations, Trump had also scrapped a planned "secret meeting" with the Taliban representatives at Camp David.The US had been negotiating with the Taliban in the last few months at Doha despite the group's reluctance to hold direct talks with the Afghan government, which it views as a US puppet.( With inputs from ANI )

Home

City

Latest News

Cricket

LT Premium

National

International

Maharashtra

Opinions

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar

Nagpur

Entertainment

Photos

Business

Technology

Sports

Lifestyle

Social Viral

Lokmat Games

Health

Pahalgam Terror Attack

Tahawwur Rana

IPL 2025

CM Devendra Fadnavis

Mumbai Local

Weather Update

Bagram, NewsFOLLOW

Bagram, Latest News

International :Taliban attacks intensify in Afghanistan after peace talks paused

The Taliban has intensified attacks in Afghanistan following the pause in the peace talks between the armed group and the US delegation in Qatar's capital Doha as the militants in their latest offensive, killed 23 security personnel in Ghazni provinc ...

International :Two dead in Taliban bombing near US airbase in Afghanistan

A car bombing near a military base in Afghanistan killed two civil, wounded over 70, including some soldiers, and badly damaged an under-construction hospital near the largest United States defense base in Bagram of the war-torn country, officials sa ...

International :1 civilian killed in explosions outside US military airbase in Afghanistan (2nd Lead)

Several militants and one Afghan civilian were feared killed and over 50 civil wounded after assailants launched bomb attacks outside the main US and NATO military base in Afghanistan's Bagram district on Wednesday morning, a local official said. ...

International :Trump makes unannounced visit to Afghstan, says talks with Taliban revived

US President Donald Trump made a surprise visit to Afghstan on Thursday evening and met American troops stationed here and gave his Thanksgiving greetings to them before sitting down with his Afghan counterpart Ashraf Gh for a bilateral meeting. ...