President Trump met Friday with a number of top national security officials, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, and John Bolton. The focus is on the Afghanistan peace deal



US envoy Zalmay Khalilizad has been working for months on this deal, and reports of a possible pact announcement this week were put off with the announcement so both sides could “consult their respective leaderships.“



It wasn’t clear what that meant at the time, but now the indication is that the Khalilzad deal is all set to go, and Friday’s meeting was about the possibility of Trump accepting it, and agreeing to end the war.



If all went well Friday, Khalilzad is expected to head to Doha this weekend to meet with the Taliban delegation. Expectations are that a peace deal would be announced officially around Monday, which is Afghan Independence Day.





Author: Jason Ditz Jason Ditz is news editor of Antiwar.com. View all posts by Jason Ditz