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The Taliban yesterday pledged to continue fighting against United States forces in Afghanistan after President Donald Trump said peace talks with the armed group were “dead”.

In a statement, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said Washington would regret turning its back on talks spearheaded by high-level officials from both sides.  “We had two ways to end occupation in Afghanistan, one was jihad and fighting, the other was talks and negotiations,” Mujahid said. 

“If Trump wants to stop talks, we will take the first way and they will soon regret it,” he said.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, who has been sidelined from the talks, renewed his call for peace and demanded that the Taliban should agree to a ceasefire amid rising civilian casualties.

On Monday, Trump told reporters: “They’re dead. They’re dead,” referring to negotiations with the armed group, adding that he was still thinking about troop withdrawal in the country.

Two days prior, he abruptly announced he was cancelling secret meetings at Camp David with the Taliban and the Afghan president, ending months of US negotiations with Taliban leaders – who control large parts of the country. 

The talks were aimed at securing a peace deal to end 18 years of war.

The developments came after US and Taliban officials last week agreed on a draft deal that could have led to a withdrawal of troops from the US’s longest war.

In announcing the cancellation of Sunday’s planned meetings, Trump cited a Taliban attack in Kabul last week in which 12 people, including a US soldier, were killed. – Al Jazeera