Progress

U.S. Accelerates Taliban Talks

No longer requires Pakistan's permission.

The U.S. is speeding up direct talks with the Taliban in an attempt to have good news by the time troop withdrawals begin in Afghanistan in July, U.S. officials said. A senior Afghan official said a U.S. representative attended at least three meetings in Qatar and Germany—with one as recently as “eight or nine days ago”—and a Taliban official considered close to leader Mohammad Omar attended. Earlier attempts at talks failed last year when an alleged Taliban leader turned out to be a fraud—a reason that also caused meetings between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the Taliban to fall apart. U.S. officials said Afghans have been “fully briefed” on the U.S.-Taliban contact, but Pakistanis “only partially so”—in part because the U.S. no longer feels it is necessary to get the Pakistani government's permission to negotiate with the Taliban.