Afghanistan called on Tuesday for an explanation of comments by U.S. President Donald Trump in which he said he could win the Afghan war in just 10 days by wiping out Afghanistan but did not want to kill 10 million people.
Trump’s remarks followed a meeting with Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan at the White House on Monday at which Trump voiced optimism that Pakistan could help broker a political settlement to end the nearly 18-year-old war in Afghanistan.
The remarks drew a stiff response from Afghanistan’s presidential palace, which has been excluded from talks between the United States and the Taliban and which accuses Pakistan of supporting the insurgency.
“The Afghan nation has not and will never allow any foreign power to determine its fate,” the presidential palace said.
“While the Afghan government supports the U.S. efforts for ensuring peace in Afghanistan, the government underscores that foreign heads of state cannot determine Afghanistan’s fate in absence of the Afghan leadership,” it said in a statement.
It called for clarification of Trump’s statement.
Looking to soothe sentiment, U.S. Special Envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, the veteran Afghan-American diplomat who has been leading negotiations with the Taliban, said the comment showed that only a political settlement made sense.
Trump “reiterated to the world that there is no reasonable military solution to the war in Afghanistan, and that peace must be achieved through a political settlement,” he wrote on Twitter. “Pakistan committed to do all it can to achieve peace.”