Taliban and U.S. to Meet for Peace Talks, Afghanistan to Join Process Later

For the first time since the war in Afghanistan began 12 years ago U.S. officials will have direct peace talks with political representatives of the Taliban to discuss the future of the war torn nation, according to the Guardian.

The meetings will be held in Doha, Qatar and are aimed at forging a path to "peace and reconciliation." The talks between the U.S. and Taliban will be followed by further peace negotiations with the Taliban and the Afghani government. Peace talks in the past have always been derailed before they began because the Taliban refused to meet a list of preconditions issued by Washington, that list has been dropped, according to the Guardian.

"These statements represent an important first step toward reconciliation, the process that after 30 years of armed conflict in Afghanistan will certainly promise to be complex, long and messy," an American official told USA Today.

In what will represent a sign that the Taliban is prepared to sever their ties with the terrorist network al-Qaida the Taliban is expected to release a statement saying that they "oppose the use of Afghan soil to threaten other countries," according to the Guardian.

While U.S. officials will be essential in getting the ball rolling in peace discussions the bulk of the work is going to be done between the Afghani government and the Taliban.

"The core of this process is not going to be U.S./Taliban discussions - we can help the process - but the core is going to be among Afghans," a U.S. official said. "The level of trust is extremely low so this is not going to be easy."

A potential stumbling block in the process will be Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Karzai has said that his government must be part of any U.S. peace talks with the Taliban; the Afghani government is not included in the first stage of the talks in part because the Taliban refuses to speak to the current government, according to the Washington Post.

Karzai wants to have the peace talks moved from Qatar back to Afghanistan as quickly as possible, a move that U.S. officials oppose, according to the Guardian.

Setting up the peace talks with the Taliban was a complicated process that required participation from Pakistan, Qatar, Germany, Norway and the U.K. to set up. Former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton spoke in 2011 about what would be required from the Taliban to reach a successful accord.

"Over the past two years, we have laid out our unambiguous red lines for reconciliation with the insurgents: They must renounce violence; they must abandon their alliance with al-Qaida; and they must abide by the constitution of Afghanistan," Clinton said. "Those are necessary outcomes of any negotiation. This is the price for reaching a political resolution and bringing an end to the military actions that are targeting their leadership and decimating their ranks."

The BBC reports that the talks are scheduled to begin in the next couple of days. U.S. officials are approaching the talk with guarded optimism.

"We need to be realistic," an administration official told USA Today. "This is a new development, potentially significant, but peace is not at hand."

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