Saturday 18 June 2011

US 'in peace talks with Taliban:Hamid Karzai

Mr Karzai said that "foreign military and especially the US itself" were involved in peace talks with the group of Taliban.
Shortly afterwards, gunmen reportedly attacked a Kabul police station.
Earlier this month, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said there could be political talks with the Taliban by the end of this year.
The US is due to start withdrawing its 97,000 troops from Afghanistan in July.
It aims to gradually hand over all security operations to Afghan security forces by 2014.
Diplomats have said there have been preliminary talks between the two sides for months, and Karzai has said Afghans are in contact with insurgent groups.
"Peace talks are going on with the Taliban. The foreign military and especially the United States itself is going ahead with these negotiations," Karzai was quoted as saying in the Reuters article.
The U.S. Embassy in Kabul declined immediate comment.
The discussions are still not at the stage where they can be a deciding factor in U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, the story said. The U.S. is nearing an announcement on the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.
Afghanistan's neighbors are nervous about plans for a strategic partnership with the United States, which may include long-term bases on Afghan soil, Karzai also warned.
"The issue of strategic partnership deal with U.S. has caused tensions with our neighbors," Karzai said. "When we sign this strategic partnership, at the same time we must have peace in Afghanistan."
That is unlikely however, as the deal is expected to be concluded in months, and even the most optimistic supporters of talks expect the process to take years.
If successful, the deal might ease worries among those Afghans who fear the United States will pull out too quickly, leaving a weak, impoverished government to fend off militants, and those who worry the foreign forces they see as occupiers will never leave.
President Barack Obama is expected to announce next month how many troops he plans to withdraw from Afghanistan as part of a commitment to begin reducing the U.S. military presence from July and hand over to Afghan security forces by 2014.

The United States is on the verge of announcing a "substantial" drawdown of American troops from Afghanistan, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said on Friday.

"There's going to be a drawdown. I am confident that it will be one that's substantial. I certainly hope so," the leading Senate Democrat said during an interview with PBS Newshour.

There currently are about 100,000 U.S. troops fighting in Afghanistan, up from about 34,000 when Obama took office in 2009.

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