By Julian Borger in Washington
Call with official whom Trump mistakenly called ‘leader of the Taliban’ is first direct exchange between a US president and insurgent leadership since 2001
Donald Trump has spoken by telephone to a senior Taliban official at a time when a row over prisoner exchanges and a fresh outbreak of violence jeopardised a historic US-Taliban peace agreement signed on Saturday.
The conversation between Trump and the head of the Taliban’s political office, Abdul Ghani Baradar, was the first direct exchange between a US president and the insurgent leadership since the US military intervention in Afghanistan began in 2001.
Source: Trump reportedly tells Taliban official ‘you are a tough people’ in first phone call
Category: Donald Trump, Taliban, Afghanistan, Mike Pompeo, South and Central Asia, World news, US military
