The Afghan Taliban, in a statement reacting to the election of Republican Donald Trump as U.S. president, declared “victory” over the United States-led coalition in the ongoing war as it urged the imminent American leader to withdraw its forces from Afghanistan, reports Khaama Press (KP).
A top spokesman for the U.S.-NATO mission in Afghanistan recently suggested that the American-backed Afghan military will never defeat the Taliban on the battlefield.
Currently, Taliban jihadists are believed to control more territory than at any time since it was removed from power in Afghanistan by the U.S. military in 2001.
Security conditions are deteriorating as the terrorist group continues to conquer more land in the war-ravaged nation, according to a recent assessment by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), U.S. watchdog agency appointed by Congress.
Even the outgoing administration of President Barack Obama has conceded that the Afghan war is at an “eroding stalemate” after more than 15 years, “tipping in the Taliban’s favor.”
The Taliban has repeatedly declared victory over the U.S.-NATO troops in Afghanistan.
“Our message to him [President-elect Trump] is that the US government policies should be made in a way that do not compromise with the freedom of the other nations and do not seek its interests in the killing and conviction of the others,” said the Taliban, according to KP’s apparent translation of the Pashto-language version of the statement, which is slightly different from the one in English.
KP adds:
The statement further added that the adoption of such a policy will lead to universal peace and will put an end to the ongoing violence.
Taliban urged the newly elected US President to withdraw its forces from Afghanistan as it claimed victory in the ongoing war in Afghanistan, claiming that the US should not further harm its prestige, economy, forces and generals in the country.
The Taliban statement comes as the US Ambassador to Afghanistan Michael McKinley declares that the US presidential election will not impact the relationship and bilateral pacts between the United States and Afghanistan.
Amb. McKinley said:
Today, I was asked many times what the impacts of these elections would be on US-Afghanistan relations and my answer is always the same, America’s long term commitment to our partnership with Afghanistan was renewed this year in Warsaw and Brussels. The US Afghan relationship will remain strong and and close because it is based not anyone election, leader or party on our common interests, our people to people ties, our shared values that so deeply rooted.
On October 21, American Brig. Gen. Charles Cleveland, a top U.S.-NATO mission spokesman, told Pentagon reporters that the coalition’s ultimate goal is not to defeat the Taliban when asked, “Do you [think] the United States and the Afghan government will ever defeat the Taliban?”
“The goal for the government of Afghanistan is to ultimately come to a negotiated solution with the Taliban,” he responded. “So, our expectation and we said this before, is it there is really not a military solution to what is happening here in Afghanistan.”
The general also described the ultimate goal as a “reconciliation” between the Afghan government and the Taliban.
“I want to tell the world community that while we will always put America’s interests first, we will deal fairly with everyone, with everyone — all people and all other nations,” declared President-elect Trump said in his victory speech. “We will seek common ground, not hostility; partnership, not conflict.”