• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

US, Taliban to Hold Direct Talks Thursday

June 18, 2013

by VOA News

The United States is set to open formal negotiations with the Taliban later this week, in a push to establish a framework for ending more than a decade of war in Afghanistan.

U.S. officials say the talks will begin Thursday in Doha, the capital of Qatar. Senior U.S. State Department and White House officials are expected to meet with a Taliban delegation, in what authorities are describing as preliminary talks.

President Barack Obama, speaking at a G8 summit in Northern Ireland, called the meeting "a very early first step," and cautioned that he expects "there will be a lot of bumps in the road".

Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government is not expected to participate in the initial round of the Doha talks. But officials say Thursday's talks are expected to lead to a meeting between the Taliban and a peace council established by the Afghan leader. To date, the Taliban has refused to talk publicly with the Karzai government.

President Karzai said Tuesday his government will send envoys to Qatar to try to open peace talks in Kabul with the Taliban.

"The principles are that the talks, having begun in Qatar, must immediately be moved to Afghanistan; second, that the talks must bring about an end to violence in Afghanistan; third, that the talks must not become a tool for any third country for exploitation with regard to its or their interests in Afghanistan," said Karzai.

Karzai commented in Kabul, during a ceremony in which Afghan forces took over responsibility for security for the entire country from the NATO military coalition set to leave the country next year.

The security transition was marred by a bomb blast Tuesday in another area of Kabul that targeted Afghan lawmaker Mohammed Mohaqiq, who survived the blast. Three people were killed in the bombing.

The Taliban has been executing an intense campaign of violence in the run-up to the 2014 NATO withdrawal.

In a VOA interview, foreign policy expert John Feffer of the Institute for Policy Studies said it appears there is some resistance to talks within the ranks of the Taliban, with some members of the group taking a wait-and-see attitude.

“They are interested in seeing who will emerge to replace Karzai and they are interested in seeing how much control they can get on the ground, especially with the increased violence that has taken place recently," said Feffer.

Earlier Tuesday, a senior U.S. official said the Taliban and other insurgent groups need to break ties with al-Qaida, end violence and accept Afghanistan's constitution, for the reconciliation process to move forward.

He also said leaders in neighboring Pakistan understand there can be no stability in their country without stability in Afghanistan. The official said Pakistan's support of the peace process is in keeping with its national interests.