US President Donald Trump on Saturday tweeted: “The Endless Wars Must End!”

Three days earlier at a rally of supporters, Trump said that the US troops "were supposed to be in Afghanistan for a short period of time," but they have remained in Afghanistan for close to 19 years. "It's time to bring them home,” he said.

In early September Trump called off negotiations with the Taliban, and subsequently described talks with the group as “dead.”

Trump made the decision to scuttle the peace talks after the Taliban admitted to an attack that killed at least 11 people, including a US soldier in Kabul.

In early October a Taliban delegation met US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, two sources told Reuters, which was the first known contact between the two sides since Trump called off talks last month.