President Donald Trump said Monday that he could win the war in Afghanistan in a week, but that he doesn�t want to kill millions of people and wipe Afghanistan �off the face of the earth.�

He�s trying to persuade Pakistan to help get a deal with the Taliban that would end America�s longest war.

�I could win that war in a week� but �I don�t want to kill millions of people,� Trump said.

Afghanistan is high on Trump�s agenda as he meets with Pakistan�s prime minister, Imran Khan. Their testy relationship may be improving. Trump says Pakistan can use its influence with the Taliban to help the U.S. �extricate� from Afghanistan.

Pakistan, which is suffering economically, wants to reset relations with the U.S. in hopes of securing more investment, trade and possibly a restoration of American aid that Trump cut.

Khan said he�s never believed that there was a military solution to the war. He said he thinks the U.S. and the Taliban are closer to a peace deal than ever before.

Trump and Khan � a former sports star � are both unpredictable and their relationship has been rocky. Monday�s visit was meant to smooth tensions and address complex problems facing both nations.

In recent years relations between the U.S. and Pakistan have resembled a yo-yo. They reached rock bottom under former President Barack Obama when the U.S. carried out the raid on al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden�s compound in Pakistan without giving Islamabad a heads-up. The relationship didn�t improve when Trump took office.

In November 2018, Trump tweeted: �We no longer pay Pakistan the $Billions because they would take our money and do nothing for us, Bin Laden being a prime example, Afghanistan being another.�

That statement created a furor in Islamabad.

Khan, the former captain of the Pakistani cricket team who assumed office last fall, fired back.

He tweeted that Pakistan has suffered 75,000 casualties and lost $123 billion in the �US War on Terror,� despite the fact that no Pakistanis were involved in the Sept. 11 attacks. He says the U.S. has only provided a �minuscule� $20 billion in aid.

Now, both countries are trying to smooth tensions.

(AP)