This article was updated Aug. 13, 2019, to include comments from Sen. Lindsey Graham.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n
WASHINGTON \u2015 The House\u2019s No. 3 Republican, Rep. Liz Cheney<\/a>, and other party members voiced skepticism Monday amid a possible deal to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan, following the latest round of talks with the Taliban.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cheney called for any potential agreement between the U.S. and the Taliban to be made public and for Taliban leaders to explicitly renounce al-Qaida. The comments came as the latest round of talks ended early Monday without a sign of a deal to end the 18-year war, America\u2019s longest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A Taliban spokesman had said last week that this eighth round of talks<\/a> would conclude with a deal to end the war. The two sides have been discussing an agreement under which U.S. forces would withdraw from Afghanistan and the Taliban would guarantee the country would not again act as a launch pad for global terrorist attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAccepting a phony deal that puts America\u2019s security in the hands of the Taliban would mean conceding defeat to al Qaeda, the group responsible for killing nearly 3,000 Americans on 9\/11,\u201d Cheney, R-Wyo., the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, said in a Twitter post<\/a>. Cheney serves on the House Armed Services Committee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n President Donald Trump has told his advisers he wants to pull all U.S. troops out of Afghanistan<\/a> by the November 2020 presidential election, NBC News reported<\/a> last month. The Washington Post reported<\/a> that a troop drawdown could reduce troop levels from 14,000 to between 8,000 and 9,000, though the Pentagon maintains it has yet to receive orders to execute such a plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The U.S. has pressed for a cease-fire and a framework for inter-Afghan talks, but so far the Taliban have refused to recognize the Afghan government, dismissing it as a U.S. puppet and continuing to stage near-daily attacks across Afghanistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n