US President Donald Trump has received an unusual endorsement in the race for the White House, getting the nod from the Taliban in Afghanistan, CBS News reported.
"We hope he will win the election and wind up (the) US military presence in Afghanistan," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told CBS News in a phone interview at the weekend.
But the Taliban expressed concern about Trump's battle Covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. "When we heard about Trump being Covid-19 positive, we got worried for his health, but seems he is getting better," another Taliban senior leader told CBS News.
Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh on Saturday said the campaign "rejects" the Taliban support. "The Taliban should know that the president will always protect American interests by any means necessary," Murtaugh told CBS News.
But according to the Independent, the Taliban has denied endorsing Donald Trump after reports emerged claiming the Afghan militant group had said it hoped the US president would be re-elected.
Trump promises Christmas withdrawal
All US troops in Afghanistan should be “home by Christmas,” President Donald Trump said on Wednesday, just hours after his national security adviser said Washington would reduce its forces in Afghanistan to 2,500 by early next year.
A landmark deal between the United States and the Taliban in February said foreign forces would leave Afghanistan by May 2021 in exchange for counterterrorism guarantees from the Taliban, which agreed to negotiate a permanent ceasefire and a power-sharing formula with the Afghan government.
Trump and other officials have said the United States will go down to between 4,000 and 5,000 troops in Afghanistan around November.
