Trump Plans Friday Meeting to Make Arrangements for Withdrawal from Afghanistan by Karen DeYoung, Missy Ryan, Anne Gearan and Philip Rucker – Washington Post
U.S. negotiators have made significant advances in recent talks with the Taliban, and the two sides are close to announcing agreement on an initial U.S. troop withdrawal, along with plans to start direct discussions between the militants and the Afghan government, according to U.S. and foreign officials.
President Trump plans to meet Friday with Cabinet officials and other senior national security advisers for a briefing by Zalmay Khalilzad, the chief U.S. envoy to the talks. A U.S. official said Vice President Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will also attend the meeting at Trump’s New Jersey golf resort. An initial withdrawal would include roughly 5,000 of the 14,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
In exchange, the Taliban would agree to renounce al-Qaeda and to prevent it from activities such as fundraising, recruiting, training and operational planning in areas under Taliban control…