US in secret direct talks with Afghan Taliban
By ANISaturday, February 19, 2011
NEW YORK - The Obama administration is reportedly holding direct, secret talks with senior Taliban leaders in Afghanistan as part of an effort to forge a political settlement with the group.
According to the New Yorker magazine, the discussions are continuing, they are of an exploratory nature and do not yet amount to a peace negotiation.
When asked for comment on the talks, a White House spokesman said that the remarks that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made earlier offered a “thorough representation of the US position.”
Clinton had earlier said that only a political solution would end the war in Afghanistan.
“We will never kill enough insurgents to end this war outright,” Clinton had said during a speech in New York.
Clinton had also voiced hope for splitting off rank-and-file Taliban from Al-Qaeda extremists in Afghanistan.he said that the surge in US-led troops over the past year was part of a strategy to “split the weakened Taliban off from Al-Qaeda and reconcile those who will renounce violence and accept the Afghan constitution”. (ANI)
