{"id":50260,"date":"2019-08-18T14:48:45","date_gmt":"2019-08-18T14:48:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/08\/18\/trump-meets-with-national-security-team-on-afghanistan\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T08:27:39","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T08:27:39","slug":"trump-meets-with-national-security-team-on-afghanistan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/08\/18\/trump-meets-with-national-security-team-on-afghanistan\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump meets with national security team on Afghanistan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

BERKELEY HEIGHTS, N.J. \u2014 Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and other members of the national security team briefed President Donald Trump on Friday on the state of peace negotiations in Afghanistan, with Pompeo saying afterward that \u201cled by the president, we are working diligently on the path forward.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump, who is spending most of the week at his golf club in New Jersey, has long been skeptical of the need to keep a U.S. military presence in Afghanistan, where U.S. troops have been fighting since 2001. The war has taken more than 2,400 American lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump tweeted after the meeting: “Many on the opposite side of this 19 year war, and us, are looking to make a deal – if possible!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said other participants in the meeting included Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of Defense Mark Esper. Also present were national security adviser John Bolton, Gen. Joe Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Zalmay Khalilzad, the envoy who has led the U.S. side in talks with the Taliban. Gidley said the meeting “went very well, and negotiations are proceeding.”<\/p>\n\n\n\t