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Monday, September 10, 2007

Is the Taliban moving towards talks in Afghanistan?

It's a little confusing but this does seem like a start to something. From RFE/RL:

The Taliban said today it is ready for talks with the Afghan government, one day after President Hamid Karzai offered negotiations in a bid to end the ongoing insurgency.

However, a purported spokesman for the insurgent group, Yusuf Ahmadi, said that it does not believe Karzai's suggestion for talks is "sincere."

Speaking by phone with RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan, Ahmadi said Karzai wants the Taliban to come forward to "apologize for their actions and put down their weapons." But at the same time, he said, the Afghan government's Western supporters "have put a several-million-dollar bounty on the Taliban leaders' heads."

Maybe soon there will be some relief from all the bombings:

The United Nations says 183 Afghan and 10 international soldiers have been killed so far this year by suicide bombings blamed on the Taliban.