In a series of alarming tweets on Sept. 7, U.S. President Donald Trump said, “Unbeknownst to almost everyone, the major Taliban leaders and, separately, the President of Afghanistan, were going to secretly meet with me at Camp David on Sunday.” 

Even though the meeting did not end up happening, Trump continued to tweet on about the subject, even as he faced backlash from Twitter users. 

The U.S. president is willing to meet with terrorists who have provided sanctuary to Al-Qaeda and have the blood of thousands of innocent people on their hands, including countless American civilians and personnel around the world. 

The Taliban is not a trustworthy partner — they are only looking for U.S. withdrawal to overthrow a weak Afghan government. 

People must know that the Taliban ruled in fear and brutality in Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, when the group was finally overthrown by the United States. 

The Taliban was harsh on women, denying them rights such as education and participation in public life, as reported by VOA News. 

The article also acknowledges the fact that the Taliban also limited freedom of speech, putting bans on movies and music. 

They performed barbaric public executions and amputations. In Afghanistan, the Taliban provided shelter to Osama bin Laden and other 9/11 co-conspirators who have also committed
attacks against the United States in Kenya, Nairobi and Yemen before the 9/11 attack. 

Sure, Trump’s willingness to meet with many of America’s adversaries is a good thing, as diplomacy is always favorable over violence. 

But the insensitive timing of the talks, near the 18th  anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks and the interest to talk to known terrorist organizations is worrying to say the least. 

Since when did the U.S. negotiate with known terrorists? They must not be allowed into the United States at any cost. 

It is mind boggling, that President Trump would consider inviting senior Taliban officials to Camp David in Maryland — they are our mortal enemies. 

Trump’s vision of leaving Afghanistan is one that is rational and wanted by the American people. 

“Fifty-seven percent of Americans, including 69 percent of military veterans, said they
would support a decision by the president to remove all troops from Afghanistan,” according to a survey conducted by YouGov and reported by The Charles Koch Institute. 

This may be only one poll, but the message is clear. We must get out of Afghanistan and focus on our own country. 

The United States cannot unilaterally, by itself, spend money and sacrifice lives in Afghanistan. 

The international community must help out Afghanistan. Other democratic countries must also step up to the plate, and help
Afghanistan become whatever the Afghan people want it to be. 

According to a poll by the Asia Foundation, “Afghans’ satisfaction with democracy has increased from 57.0% in 2017 to 61.4% in the year of 2018.”

This may increase if there is transparency by the government, a strong electoral body and no election fraud committed by political parties and leaders.  

Our brothers and sisters in arms must not be forced to fight in a war where there’s no clear objective. 

First we wanted to overthrow the Taliban, we were successful. Then, we wanted to capture Bin Laden, we successfully killed him. What exactly are we in Afghanistan for? It is not our job to rebuild other countries. Our own country is crumbling. 

The Taliban must be fought with by the Afghan government with assistance from the international community. 

It is insensitive to the countless innocent civilians and countless American soldiers killed, to simply start peace negotiations with them. 

The Taliban currently controls more territory in Afghanistan since its toppling in 2001. It will be the job of the Afghan government to fight the Taliban. 

Wars will always cause civilian casualties, it is undeniable. 

It is impossible that we can intervene in a war and not have any civilian casualties.

The Taliban have long weaved in and out of civilians houses and civilians as human shields. 

The Taliban must be fought and that can only happen with the assistance of the local populations. 

The Afghan government must work with the Afghan population as they both know their country better than Americans do.