US hit Taliban 'harder than ever before': Donald Trump

Washington: US President Donald Trump on Friday said America has hit the Taliban in Afghanistan "harder" than ever before and claimed that the outfit is now regretting for their action that forced him to end the peace talks with them.

ALSO READ: Rajnath Singh payed respect, appreciating scientists for their hardwork

Earlier this month, Trump cancelled a secret meeting with the Taliban and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani at Camp David near Washington after the Taliban claimed responsibility of an attack in Kabul in which an American soldier were among the dead.

The US has been conducting peace talks with the Taliban and the two sides were hopeful of a deal that included America cutting down on troops in Afghanistan and guarantees by Taliban of not allowing the Afghan soil to be ever used again for terror activities.

ALSO READ: Kamal Haasan blames ‘government apathy’ for techie’s death

"We have hit the Taliban harder than they have ever been hit in the entire 19 years of war they have been," Trump told reporters in his Oval Office during a joint press conference with visiting Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

Trump claimed that "absolutely impeccable sources" have informed him that the Taliban are now saying that they "made a mistake" by carrying out the attack in Kabul in which an American soldier and 11 others were killed.

The president said he wanted the talks to happen but the Taliban "couldn't make a ceasefire".

The US-Taliban talks collapsed after nine rounds of talks between the US and Taliban representatives, held in Doha, the capital of the Gulf state of Qatar.

ALSO READ: Pakistani activist escapes to US; seeks political asylum: report