Trump Cancels Meeting with Taliban
Anna Moneymaker/The New York Times
We ran the numbers: There are 2145 news articles covering this topic. 63% (1354) are left leaning, 32% (696) center, 4% (95) right leaning.
President Trump had planned to meet with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Taliban leaders at Camp David on Sunday. However, he has cancelled the meeting and further peace negotiations with the group after learning of a Taliban attack. The Taliban admitted to carrying out an attack in Kabul that killed 12 people, leading Trump to cancel the meetings. Trump tweeted “If they cannot agree to a ceasefire during these very important peace talks, and would even kill 12 innocent people, then they probably don't have the power to negotiate a meaningful agreement anyway.”
Centrist coverage from NPR focuses on the history of negotiations between the Trump administration and the Taliban. For instance, in August Trump indicated that he was planning to withdraw troops from Afghanistan, leaving 8,600 soldiers stationed in the country. This move outraged the Taliban, who want to negotiate for full, not partial, troop withdrawal. The article reports that “Until now, it had appeared that the U.S. was nearing a deal with the Taliban that would bring home some, if not all, of the 14,000 U.S. troops still stationed in Afghanistan.”
Right-leaning Fox News coverage emphasizes Trump’s statement that peace talks with the Taliban are “dead,” as far as he is concerned. The article also notes that it is surprising that Trump was willing to host the Taliban on Sunday, just days before the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
A left-leaning article from the Washington Postdraws comparisons between Trump’s willingness to hold negotiations with the Taliban and his other bold foreign policy moves as president. The article compares the planned meeting to Trump’s “unorthodox” foreign policy initiatives with North Korea, China, and Iran. The president has expressed willingness to meet with leaders from North Korea and Iran, while becoming ever-deeper embroiled in a trade war with China. The article notes that these efforts also have yet to bear fruit.
From the right
Trump says talks with Taliban are ‘dead,’ after canceling secret Camp David summit
Fox News