Taliban ready to talk, says US
ELEMENTS of the Taliban are open to talks with the Afghan government, the US Defence Secretary has said.
Afghan president Ashraf Ghani unveiled a plan to open peace talks with the Taliban two weeks ago. Arriving in Kabul on an unannounced visit yesterday, Jim Mattis said some insurgent leaders had expressed an interest.
He added: ‘It may not be that the whole Taliban comes over in one fell swoop – that would be a bridge too far – but there are elements of the Taliban clearly interested in talking to the Afghan government. Right now we want the Afghans to lead and to provide the substance of the reconciliation effort.’
About 1 ,000 American troops are in Afghanistan, up from a low of about 8,500 when Barack Obama left office.