TENSION

Kabul Kills Trilateral Peace Talks

Says Pakistan is behind Rabbani assassination.

Afghanistan announced on Thursday that it is delaying efforts to work with Pakistan and the U.S. on getting the Taliban to negotiate for peace, canceling a scheduled meeting in Kabul on Oct. 8 with U.S. and Pakistani officials. Afghanistan changed course after Kabul’s top peace negotiator, former Afghan president Burhanuddin Rabbani, was assassinated last week, believing that Pakistani intelligence may have collaborated with the Taliban in plotting his murder. "From now on Afghanistan will follow a 'trust but verify' approach toward Pakistan, in particular with regard to our peace effort," said deputy national-security adviser Shaida Mohammad Abdali. Suspending the meetings will delay U.S. attempts to bring leaders in the region to the negotiating table in its effort to successfully withdraw most coalition military forces by 2014.