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KABUL: Lawmakers slammed President Ashraf Ghani for going to the US military base out of Kabul to meet the country’s president Donald Trump, calling it an “insult to all Afghans”.
Trump landed at the Bagram air base in a sudden visit to Afghanistan on Thursday where he attended the Thanksgiving ceremony with American soldiers.
He called President Ghani for a meeting at the base and the latter agreed and went to Bagram to meet him.
Members of parliament said Saturday that Ghani could have met his American counterpart in his office in Kabul.
The legislatives recalled former US president Barack Obama’s 2010 visit to Afghanistan that former president Hamid Karzai rejected his request to hold meeting at the Bagram base, asking for an honor medal to Karzai.
Meanwhile, parliament speaker Rahman Rahmani welcomed Trump’s visit to Afghanistan, hoping that his trip would help Taliban get ready for peace talks and ceasefire.
Trump told Ghani that Taliban have got interest to peace and ceasefire, adding that he would reduce the number of US troops stationed in Afghanistan.
There are currently 13,000 US soldiers in Afghanistan and Trump said the number would decrease to about 8,600.
The US-Taliban nine-nine round negotiations was called off by Trump in early September after a suicide attack claimed by the group killed 12 people including an American soldier in Kabul.
