Afghanistan Ends Taliban Peace Efforts

3 October 2011
Afghan President Hamid Karzai (at right) has decided to end efforts to begin direct talks with the Taliban. He is turning his attention to cutting the deal with Pakistan, as Kabul alleged that the killer of its top peace envoy was a Pakistani. Karzai is expected to outline his revised strategy, as he looks for new ways to bring a decade of war to an end. His move to reshape comes after the assassination of the peace negotiator, ex-president, Burhanuddin Rabbani. Afghan officials have concluded that a high level member of the Taliban’s leadership helped organize the attack, mentioning that the killer was a Pakistani citizen. While Pakistan has denied playing any role in the attack, Karzai aides that it is useless to pursue direct talks with the Taliban. That is because they believe the Taliban leaders are instruments of Pakistani policy, and cannot deliver any deal on their own. The U.S. has been actively aiding Karzai in his efforts to secure a peace deal that could result in withdraw of American troops from Afghanistan and end the war within two years.

Source:
Afghanistan Halts Taliban Peace Initiative
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203791904576606921747225488.html

Reliability: 8