U.S. Marine Corps Lance Cpl. William Campe provides security while halted during a partnered security patrol with Afghan soldiers in Safar Bazaar, Helmand province, Afghanistan, Dec. 30, 2011. Campe is a rifleman assigned to India Company, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Reece Lodder
US 'Opens Talks With Hizb-i-Islami Insurgent Group' -- The Telegraph
Senior http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifUS military and civilian representatives in Afghanistan have opened talks with an insurgent group led by a man considered to be a terrorist by Washington, according to his key lieutenant and son-in-law.
Ghairat Baheer, a negotiator for the Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, has told The Daily Telegraph he met General David Petraeus, then the head of Nato forces in Afghanistan and now the head of the CIA, in Kabul last year.
It is the latest sign of intense political activity in Afghanistan as the US reduces troop levels and tries to broker a peace deal – and the highest level talks yet.
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