White House says U.S. to resume talks with Taliban

Air Langhi · Jun 18, 2013

White House says U.S. to resume talks with Taliban

Perhaps channeling Winston Churchill's famous warning about "the end of the beginning," the White House on Tuesday announced plans for direct talks with Afghanistan's Taliban militia, but it cautioned against expecting any quick breakthrough that might speed the end of America's longest war.

Among the likely items on the agenda: the return of U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, held captive by the Taliban-allied Haqqani network since 2009.

U.S. and Taliban negotiators will hold formal talks "in a couple of days" in the Gulf state of Qatar, where the Taliban will officially open an office on Tuesday, U.S. officials said on a conference call with reporters. The negotiations are part of a diplomatic push to ease the American withdrawal by the end of 2014 and ensure the war-torn country does not serve as a springboard for attacks like the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist strikes.

The White House announced the face-to-face negotiations even as Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai proclaimed that his war-torn country’s military and police had taken the lead from NATO forces. Karzai also announced the start of separate peace talks with the Taliban in Qatar while calling for them to move to Afghanistan as soon as possible.

"We need to be realistic. This is a new development, a potentially significant development. But peace is not at hand,” a senior administration official cautioned on the call, which was held on condition that none of the participants be named. The process of political reconciliation in Afghanistan "will certainly promise to be complex, long and messy," another top official said on the call.

In the U.S.-Taliban talks, Washington is likely to send James Dobbins, who took over May 10 as the State Department's special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan. Officials on the call said they believed the Taliban negotiators would be "fully authorized" by the militia's leader, Mullah Omar, who has eluded capture since U.S. forces invaded Afghanistan in late 2001.

One of the officials said the Taliban would shortly release a statement saying “that they oppose the use of Afghan soil to threaten other countries and, second, that they support an Afghan peace process," as long sought by the United States. The first part of the statement is meant to indicate that they will break with al-Qaida, the official said.
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http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/u-resume-talks-taliban-days-white-house-150430725.html

Maybe even Iraq turned out better than Afghanistan, but to be fair Iraq already had infrastructure, oil, and some what of a functioning government. Whenever the US leaves I think there is a good chance the Taliban will be back in power.

da_juice · Jun 18, 2013

The Taliban will probably be back in control (or at least have some control- no one's really ever in charge of Afghanistan). I believe even the Taliban only had slim control on some of the more remote areas (that's where the real problems come from).

Best best for the US is for economic expansion into Afghanistan. With some sort of power sharing/peace agreement, it's totally possible.

In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the Taliban and the US have a relationship like our one with Vietnam. Where we get a shot at their markets, and we cooperate against a common enemy (Iran).

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White House says U.S. to resume talks with Taliban

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