US-Taliban Talks Stumble

Hamid Karzai is in Pakistan today to discuss negotiations

(NEWSER) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai arrived in Pakistan today, one day after telling the Wall Street Journal that his country has entered into three-way peace talks with the Taliban and the US. Karzai is in Pakistan to discuss the negotiations and request that country's help; Islamabad's cooperation is necessary, since Taliban fighters have reportedly been receiving support from Pakistan, the New York Times notes. The recent talks signal a breakthrough, considering the Taliban has up until now insisted it would not negotiate with Karzai's "puppet regime." More»

Troop withdrawal could lead to instability, some fear

(NEWSER) - Political leaders in Afghanistan are concerned that President Obama's decision to start withdrawing US forces could lead to a repeat of the US withdrawal in 1989, when Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence was allowed to gain major influence. "We don't want to go back 20 years when [ISI was] making the decisions about Afghanistan," one mayor tells the Wall Street Journal . Adding to the concern is the fact that billions of dollars in aid cuts will likely accompany the withdrawal, Reuters reports. For his part, Afghan President Hamid Karzai appeared supportive of Obama's speech. More»

Biggest military leak in history underscores grim realities

(NEWSER) - Wikileaks has unveiled 92,000 secret documents about the Afghan war, which, in the New York Times ' words, "illustrate in mosaic detail why ... the Taliban are stronger than at any time since 2001." Don't have time to scan through 92,000 documents? Here are what appear to be the top revelations:

1. The Army Delta Force runs a top-secret group of commandos called Task Force 373, charged with assassinating Taliban leaders. Some of their raids have resulted in civilian casualties; in one case, seven children were killed by a rocket.
2. The Taliban has employed heat-seeking anti-aircraft rockets, of the same kind the US gave the mujahedeen during the Soviet occupation.
3. The US covered up one attack made with one of those rockets, saying it had been downed by conventional weaponry.

Candidate pledges more US troops

(NEWSER) - Calling the situation in Afghanistan "precarious and urgent," Barack Obama today urged the Bush administration to make Afghanistan—rather than Iraq—"the central front in our battle against terrorism." In his first interview since arriving in the country yesterday, the Democratic candidate told Lara Logan on Face the Nation that an additional two brigades were needed to combat insurgents and the drug trade that finances them, USA Today reports. More»

Pakistan chief snubs Afghan jirga; US claims 'good reasons'

(NEWSER) - Pervez Musharraf has backed out of meetings with his Afghan counterpart in an abrupt snub that initially shocked Washington. Musharraf told Hamid Karzai he has other “engagements" at home in Pakistan and can't attend the meeting of tribal leaders intended to discuss military violence. The US is looking into the announcement, but says it's sure the general-president had "good and compelling reasons." More»