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(CNN) - President Donald Trump said Saturday that Taliban leaders would travel to the United States for secret peace talks this weekend along with Afghanistan's president at Camp David, but the meeting was canceled.
Trump tweeted that he ruled out the meeting after the Taliban claimed an attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, which killed a dozen people, including a US soldier.
"Without almost everyone knowing, the main Taliban leaders and, separately, the president of Afghanistan, would meet with me in secret at Camp David on Sunday," Trump tweeted.
Trump said that before traveling to the United States on Saturday night, "Unfortunately, to build a false influence, they admitted ... an attack in Kabul that killed one of our great great soldiers and 11 other people."
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"I immediately canceled the meeting and suspended the peace negotiations," Trump added.
The president criticized the leaders for thinking that the attacks would improve their negotiating position.
"What kind of people would kill so many to apparently strengthen their negotiating position?" He tweeted. "They didn't, they ... they only made it worse!"
The announcement comes when the United States and the Taliban are close to finalizing a peace agreement. The main US negotiator and special envoy for Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, returned to Doha, Qatar, this week to resume talks with the Taliban.
Donald Trump, president of the United States.
Khalilzad had told TOLOnews in Afghanistan on Monday that the United States and the Taliban have reached an agreement "in principle", pending Trump's final approval.
Khalilzad said that based on the draft agreement, the United States will withdraw troops from five bases in Afghanistan within 135 days, provided the Taliban meets the conditions set out in the agreement.
The State Department sent CNN to the White House for comment.
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In his tweets, Trump cast doubt on the negotiating skills of leaders in light of the murders.
"If they can't accept a ceasefire during these very important peace talks, and they would even kill 12 innocent people, then they probably don't have the power to negotiate a meaningful deal anyway," he added. "How many more decades are you willing to fight?"
Michael Callahan and Jennifer Hansler, both of CNN, contributed to this report.
TalibanTaliban