BAGRAM AIRFIELD : President Donald Trump made a surprise Thanksgiving visit to US troops in Afghanistan on Thursday and said he believed Taliban insurgents would agree to a ceasefire in America’s longest war.
Trump’s visit was his first to Afghanistan since becoming president and came a week after a prisoner swap between Washington and Kabul that has raised hopes for a revival of peace talks.
“The Taliban wants to make a deal,” Trump said. “And we are meeting with them and we say it has to be a ceasefire and they didn’t want to do a ceasefire and now they want to do a ceasefire, I believe. It will probably work out that way.”
The Air Force One presidential plane touched down at Bagram Airfield after an overnight flight from Washington with White House national security adviser Robert O’Brien, a small group of aides and Secret Service agents, and a pool of reporters.
Trump met with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and addressed US troops. He was greeted by U.S. Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, upon his arrival at the sprawling airfield.
Trump served turkey to some U.S. troops and sat down to eat Thanksgiving dinner with them. He chatted and had his picture taken with some of the U.S. forces deployed there.
