Any negotiations with the Taliban would be conducted largely in secret, through third parties, Washington sources reported. Illustration: Saeed Achakzai/ReutersWhite House Shifts Afghanistan Strategy Towards Talks With Taliban -- The Guardian
Senior Washington officials tell the Guardian of a 'change of mindset' over Obama administration's Afghanistan policy.
The White House is revising its Afghanistan strategy to embrace the idea of negotiating with senior members of the Taliban through third parties – a policy to which it had previously been lukewarm.
Negotiating with the Taliban has long been advocated by Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, and the British and Pakistani governments, but resisted by Washington.
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My Comment: The Taliban are looking at this conflict from a viewpoint that it will take years of combat to finally drive out the foreigners (i.e. the U.S. and NATO). Why should they negotiate when they now know that the intent of the coalition is to leave Afghanistan by 2014.
This talk of "Afghan ownership" and handing over security responsibilities to the Afghan military is all theater. It will take years before a semi functional Afghan Army is in place, and even longer to have the proper government administrative institutions in place to take over when the coalition leaves.
The real policy objective for the coalition is to lay the groundwork to get out of Afghanistan .... and they have made it clear that 2014 is their target date.