Donald Trump's unannounced troop visit to the US Thanksgiving holiday in Afghanistan could have brought with it another surprise in addition to a feast for the US soldiers. On his first trip to the country since taking office, the US president has been hoping for an understanding with the militant Islamist Taliban.
"The Taliban want to make a deal and we'll meet them," Trump said as he visited a US military base in Bagram north of Kabul. The militia had agreed in ongoing discussions after initial refusal to promise a ceasefire. "I think they want a truce now," Trump said. "It may work that way."
"We're talking to the Taliban," Trump said in the presence of his Afghan colleague Ashraf Ghani. Since July last year, the US has negotiated with the Taliban to pave the way for US troops to withdraw and, ultimately, for peace in the country.
Trump's staff camouflages the journey on Twitter
Back in September, Trump had declared the talks dead - just before a planned secret meeting with Taliban representatives in the presidential residence at Camp David. Trigger was an attack in Kabul, in which a US soldier died. Since the talks ended, the Taliban have been willing to resume negotiations - but refuse to negotiate with the government in Kabul as they see it as a "puppet" of the West.
Trump's trip to the largest US military base in Afghanistan was held under strictest secrecy for security reasons. The White House canceled some tweets of Trump's otherwise active Twitter account - hours of silence were treacherous.
Eleven months ago, Trump made his first visit to combat troops abroad in Iraq. He traveled with his wife Melania at Christmas to the soldiers stationed there. Last week, US Vice President Mike Pence traveled to Iraq on an unannounced visit.
Thanksgiving "with the toughest and bravest fighters on earth"
To the soldiers who cheered the president several times, Trump said there was no other place where he would rather spend the holiday than "right here with the toughest, strongest, best, and bravest fighters on earth." Video footage showed how Trump posed with the troops for photos and served the soldiers turkey.
Trump has been promising for a long time to bring the "endless wars" to an end and to withdraw the soldiers. The US president reiterated his intention to reduce troop levels in the country to around 8600. At the same time, he said the US would remain in Afghanistan until a deal was reached with the Taliban - or "we have a total victory." Currently, between 12,000 and 13,000 American soldiers are stationed in the country.
Meanwhile, however, violence in Afghanistan continues - in battle and explosions, at least 20 people were killed within 24 hours of Trump's visit. However, observers said last week that they had exchanged prisoners, including Western Taliban hostages, as a possible step towards resuming US-Taliban talks.
REUTERS / Tom Brenner
Ashraf Ghani with Donald Trump: Taliban must accept ceasefire for peace agreement
Less than a year before the US presidential election, Trump would be in for a foreign policy success in Afghanistan. So far, neither the strategy of "maximum pressure" in the nuclear dispute with Iran, nor Trump could move North Korea to abandon its nuclear program.
Trump said during his visit, in the long term, the future of Afghanistan and other countries in the region would not be on the battlefield. It needs a political solution that is decided by the people in the region. Chief of Staff Mark Milley said that the hope was that talks with the Taliban would lead to an intra-Afghan dialogue in the not-too-distant future.
Afghanistan's President Ghani said following Trump's visit that they both agreed that the Taliban must "accept a ceasefire" if they really wanted to reach a peace agreement.