Kabul seeks explanation on Trump's claim of wiping out Afghanistan

KABUL: The Afghan government requested Tuesday United States President Donald Trump to explain his boast of terminating the Afghan war in 10 days by wiping out Afghanistan and its 10 million residents.

“The Afghan nation has not and will never allow any foreign power to determine its fate,” the presidential palace stated. “The government underscores that foreign heads of state cannot determine Afghanistan’s fate in absence of the Afghan leadership,” the palace said. Afghanistan’s government has been excluded from talks between the US and the Taliban and has accused Pakistan of supporting the insurgency.

The strong response comes after Trump, following a meeting with Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan at the White House on Monday, said that Pakistan could help broker a political settlement to end the nearly 18-year-old war in Afghanistan. “I have plans on Afghanistan that if I wanted to win that war, Afghanistan would be wiped off the face of the earth, it would be gone, it would be over in literally 10 days,” the head of state casually said, justifying that he won’t do it as he doesn’t want “to kill 10 million people.”