Against Odds, Path Opens Up for U.S.-Taliban Talks

[alp227]

Over the last year, Marc Grossman, a veteran but low-key diplomat, led a small team of American officials who met secretly from Doha, Qatar, to Munich with a shadowy representative of Afghanistan’s Taliban leader, Mullah Muhammad Omar, in hopes of starting peace talks.

The Obama administration’s efforts to negotiate an end to the war, initially brokered by Germany’s spy service, showed promise but have been scuttled more than once by rumors, deliberate leaks in Kabul, Islamabad and Washington and the assassination of the top Afghan negotiator in September by a supposed envoy wearing a bomb in his turban, Afghan and Western officials said.

Then, Mr. Grossman and other administration officials were caught by surprise when the Taliban announced last week that they were prepared to take an important step by opening a political office in Qatar.

Now, despite doubts in the administration, misgivings on Capitol Hill and the erratic objections of the most important partner in any potential peace deal — President Hamid Karzai — the administration’s best hope for ending the war in Afghanistan has reached a critical juncture. Next week, Mr. Grossman and his team are rushing back to the region to consult with several allies, including Saudi Arabia and Turkey, and if Mr. Karzai gives his blessing, will resume preliminary talks with the Taliban representative before another opportunity slips away.

full: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/12/world/asia/quest-for-taliban-peace-talks-at-key-juncture.html?pagewanted=all

[David__77]

1. Gee, they could have done that in 2001.

And maybe avoided a war of aggression against Afghanistan.

[DCBob]

2. The Bush administration nor the Taliban wanted it in 2001.

They both perferred warmongering.

[David__77]

3. That's untrue. The Taliban tried multiple times to negotiate... see reference...

A NATION CHALLENGED: THE PRESIDENT; PRESIDENT REJECTS OFFER BY TALIBAN FOR NEGOTIATIONS

WASHINGTON, Oct. 14— President Bush forcefully rejected another offer from the Taliban today to begin talks about the surrender of Osama bin Laden if the United States stopped bombing Afghanistan.

''When I said no negotiations, I meant no negotiations,'' Mr. Bush told reporters upon landing on the South Lawn of the White House after returning from a weekend of intensive national security briefings at Camp David.

...

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/15/world/nation-challenged-president-president-rejects-offer-taliban-for-negotiations.html

I still recall the beginning of that terrible bombing campaign. The protests against it here in the US were vigorous, but small in scope. Only a few on the left. I am proud that I opposed it.

[DCBob]

5. They had ample opportunity to negotiate and turn OBL over long before the bombing started.

Im not taking Bush's side but I think most any President would have done the same thing. I supported the Afghan war but not the Iraq war. The Taliban and bin Laden deserved what they got.

[DeathToTheOil]

4. k