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Trump to U.N.: 'We don't want to talk to the Taliban'

By Daniel Uria
President Donald Trump said he has no plans to negotiate with the Taliban following a pair of deadly attacks in Afghanistan in recent weeks. Photo by Chris Kleponis/UPI
President Donald Trump said he has no plans to negotiate with the Taliban following a pair of deadly attacks in Afghanistan in recent weeks. Photo by Chris Kleponis/UPI | License Photo

Jan. 29 (UPI) -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday dismissed the idea of engaging in negotiations with the Taliban after a series of deadly attacks in recent weeks.

Speaking at a lunch with members of the U.N. Security Council, he said he doesn't see any talking taking place with the Afghan militant group amid "killing all over" the country.

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"Bombing in the middle of children, in the middle of families -- bombing, killing all over Afghanistan," Trump said. "So we don't want to talk with the Taliban. There may be a time, but it's going to be a long time. We're all out, and that's taking place right now, and it's a whole new front. And it's a whole new set of principles that we're being governed by."

Trump's comments follow a car bombing in the Afghan capital of Kabul involving an explosive-laden ambulance that killed 103 people and injured 235 more.

A week earlier Taliban-linked gunmen carried out a more than 12-hour siege on Kabul's Intercontinental Hotel that left at least 22 people dead.

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"When we see what they're doing and the atrocities that they're committing, and killing their own people, and those people are women and children -- many, many women and children that are totally innocent -- it is horrible," Trump said.

Trump added he plans to discuss the defeat of the militant group with members of the U.N. Security Council.

"We're going to finish what we have to finish. What nobody else has been able to finish, we're going to be able to do it," he said.

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