US President Trump says he spoke to Taliban leader, had ‘good talk’

Acknowledging a military stalemate after nearly two decades of conflict, the United States on Saturday signed a peace agreement with the Taliban.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he talked with a Taliban leader, days after the US and the Taliban reached an agreement aimed at allowing the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan after more than 18 years.

President Donald Trump with Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, right, and Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health Anthony Fauci, walk on the South Lawn, Washington. (AP)

“I spoke to the leader of the Taliban today,” Trump told reporters on the South Lawn. “We had a very good talk.” A short time earlier, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid tweeted: “The President of the United States Trump held a phone conversation” with Taliban leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar.

No other details were disclosed.

Acknowledging a military stalemate after nearly two decades of conflict, the United States on Saturday signed a peace agreement with the Taliban.

The deal, signed by chief negotiators from the two sides and witnessed by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, could see the withdrawal of all American and allied forces in the next 14 months and allow Trump to keep a key campaign pledge to extract the US from “endless wars”.

But it could also easily unravel, particularly if the Taliban and other factions of Afghan society fail to have successful talks plotting a political way forward for the country.