"I could win that war in a week if I wanted to. I'm not looking to kill 10 million people. Okay? Many of them would be innocent people. I'm not looking to do that. I'm not talking nuclear, by the way. I'm talking totally conventional. But I'm not looking to kill millions of people in Afghanistan", Trump told reporters on Friday, as broadcast by NBC News.
The president pointed out that significant progress had been achieved during the peace talks.
"With respect to Afghanistan, we made a lot of progress. We're talking. But we've also made a lot of progress", Trump added.
The remarks were made by Trump as the United States and the Taliban Islamist movement are set to resume peace talks in the Qatari capital Doha. US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad has expressed optimism over the outcome of the talks that could allow Washington to withdraw the contry's troops from Afghanistan.
The United States and its allies launched a military operation in Afghanistan in 2001 after the 9/11 attacks, which were staged by the al-Qaeda* terror group, backed by then Taliban-led government of Afghanistan.
US killed more civilians in Afghanistan than the Taliban – shocking UN report https://t.co/g0nRuKxWik
— Sputnik (@SputnikInt) August 2, 2019
The Taliban and the US are trying to reach a peace deal to include the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan and assurances from the Taliban that the country will not be used as a safe haven for terrorists.
*al-Qaeda is a terrorist group banned in Russia
