DONALD Trump has warned the Taliban he could wipe Afghanistan off the face of the Earth and kill 10 million people but that he “doesn’t want to go that route”.
Speaking at a joint press conference with Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan, the US president also said he didn’t want America to be a “policeman” overseas.
The two are meeting in Washington DC this week as part of a push to improve relations between their countries, which have been strained by the role each has played in the ongoing war in Afghanistan.
The US invaded Afghanistan and toppled the Taliban government there in the wake of the September 11 attacks in 2001.
It has remained in the country battling Taliban forces since, and in 2010 the conflict overtook the Vietnam War as the US’s longest-running in US history.
Successive US administration have accused Pakistan of cultivating terrorist groups in Afghanistan to act as proxies in its conflict with India, while Pakistan has long criticised US anti-terror tactics like the use of drones.
Khan, a former international cricketer, became prime minister in August of last year, and has signalled a willingness to renew relations.
Speaking in the Oval Office, Trump said: “There is tremendous potential between our countries.
“And I think Pakistan’s going to help us out to extricate ourselves. We’re like policeman.
“If we wanted to fight a war in Afghanistan and win it I could win that war in a week.
“I just don’t want to kill 10 million people.
“I have plans on Afghanistan, that if I wanted to win that war, Afghanistan would be wiped off the face of the Earth.
“It would gone… It would be over in… Literally in ten days.
“I don’t want to go that route.”
Trump suggested he might restore security aid to Pakistan, which he suspended last year, accusing Pakistan of “lies and deceit” in its dealings with terrorist groups.
Khan has previously said the US aid was “minuscule” compared with what the US-led “War on Terror” has cost Pakistan.
Roughly 14,000 American troops remain in Afghanistan, and since October US officials have held a series of talks with Taliban representatives about the possibility of total US withdrawal.
The US wants the Taliban to guarantee it would not allow fighters to use Afghanistan to launch attacks outside the country and to open talks with the Afghan government, which it currently says is illegitimate.
“We’ve been there for 19 years, in Afghanistan. It’s ridiculous.
“We’ve been in there not fighting to win, just fighting to…
“They’re building gas stations, they’re rebuilding schools.
“The United States, we shouldn’t be doing that. That’s for them to do.
“But what we did, and what our leadership got us into is ridiculous.”
Works to improve governance, the rule of law, and infrastructure within Afghanistan are ongoing.
Despite the involvement of numerous foreign governments and supranational organisations, reconstruction efforts continue to be hampered by conflict.
Trump also offered to mediate talks in the conflict between India and Pakistan, which concerns control of disputed territories in Kashmir.
He said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked him to “mediate or arbitrate” in the 70-year dispute, adding: “If I can help, I would love to be a mediator.
“If I can do anything on that let me know.”
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