US to have role in talks with Taliban

KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, AFGHANISTAN » The U. S. has a role to play in setting the conditions for members of the Taliban to lay down their weapons and move back into Afghanistan’s society, the top U. S. commander for the war said Thursday.

Noting that integration talks are already going on behind the scenes, Gen. John Nicholson said U. S. and Afghan officials are working out a plan that will lay out how the U. S. will support the peace effort.

Some of the steps could include providing funding and setting up a system to remove certain groups from the U. S. list of terror suspects, which will help convince them they can return to their communities without being targets of American counterterrorism strikes.

“We have work to do,” Nicholson said at the edge of the Kandahar Airfield runway.

The prospect for peace negotiations with the Taliban has long been a goal, but it comes fraught with challenges and will take years. U.S. military leaders say that after more than 16 years of war, Taliban members may be weary and factions could be split apart and enticed to the peace table.

Senior U. S. defense officials, including Pentagon chief Jim Mattis, who was in Afghanistan last week, define victory as a political settlement between the Afghan government and the Taliban. And while he acknowledged that getting the Taliban to reconcile en masse may be “a bridge too far,” he said elements could be brought in piecemeal.