The Taliban on Tuesday vowed to continue fighting against US forces in Afghanistan after President Donald Trump said talks with the insurgents were “dead”, saying Washington would regret abandoning negotiations.

On the Friday before Labor Day, President Trump gathered top advisers in the Situation Room to consider what could be among the profound decisions of his presidency — a peace plan with the Taliban after 18 years of grinding, bloody war in Afghanistan.

U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper, in his first major speech, on Friday called for a greater European focus on tackling what he called growing security and economic threats from China and Russia.

The Trump administration’s point man for negotiations with the Taliban could soon face a subpoena to testify before Congress about his work as a top lawmaker demands a September hearing.

A secret cyberattack against Iran in June wiped out a critical database used by Iran’s paramilitary arm to plot attacks against oil tankers and degraded Tehran’s ability to covertly target shipping traffic in the Persian Gulf, at least temporarily, according to senior American officials.