Connect to share and comment

Kabul lashes out over prospective Taliban-US talks

Agence France-PresseJune 19, 2013 18:31
The Afghan government lashed out Wednesday at US efforts to broker peace with the Taliban, suspending security talks with Washington and threatening to boycott contacts with the insurgents. Kabul issued two strongly worded statements threatening to sabotage US efforts to start talks with the Taliban, just one day after its Islamist foes opened an office for dialogue in the tiny Gulf emirate of Qatar.

The Taliban: rebels ready for the peace table?

Agence France-PresseJune 19, 2013 15:33
If the Taliban sit down with the US and Afghan governments, it will be the latest radical transformation of a movement often seen as a symbol of oppression, violence and religious extremism. The Taliban emerged in the 1990s, garnering support in Afghanistan by bringing order to rural areas wrecked by warlords, before imposing their austere version of Sunni Islamic law after fighting their way to power in 1996.

The Taliban: rebels ready for the peace table?

Agence France-PresseJune 19, 2013 12:03
If the Taliban sit down with the US and Afghan governments, it will be the latest radical transformation of a movement often seen as a symbol of oppression, violence and religious extremism. The Taliban emerged in the 1990s, garnering support in Afghanistan by bringing order to rural areas wrecked by warlords, before imposing their austere version of Sunni Islamic law after fighting their way to power in 1996.

Obama hopes Afghan peace talks go on

Agence France-PresseJune 19, 2013 11:31
US President Barack Obama said Wednesday he always expected "friction" at Afghan reconciliation talks but said he hoped they could still continue, despite a row over the name of a new Taliban office in Doha. "My hope is that despite those challenges the process will proceed," Obama said, after the Afghan government cut off security talks with Washington after a new Taliban office in Doha used the name "Islamic Emirate Of Afghanistan." col/kjm/fb

Karzai suspends US talks in row over Taliban office

Agence France-PresseJune 19, 2013 08:03
Afghan President Hamid Karzai Wednesday broke off crucial security talks with the United States, angry over the name given to a new Taliban office in Qatar that is meant to facilitate peace negotiations. The ongoing Afghan-US talks must reach an agreement if Washington is to maintain soldiers in Afghanistan after a NATO combat mission ends next year. Karzai's decision to suspend the talks threatens to wreck US efforts to start a dialogue with the Taliban, which President Barack Obama had welcomed as an important step towards ending 12 years of war.

Taliban defy peace bid with deadly attack on Americans

Agence France-PresseJune 19, 2013 06:34
The Taliban on Wednesday claimed an audacious attack in Afghanistan that killed four US troops mere hours after Washington said it would talk to the insurgents about ending more than a decade of war. The deadly rocket attack on Bagram, Afghanistan's biggest US-led military base just north of Kabul, was a stark reminder of the potency of an Islamist insurgency that has time and again hit major targets.

Karzai suspends US talks in row over Taliban office

Agence France-PresseJune 19, 2013 05:31
Afghan President Hamid Karzai Wednesday broke off crucial security talks with the United States, angry over the name given to a new Taliban office in Qatar that is meant to facilitate peace negotiations. The ongoing Afghan-US talks must reach an agreement if Washington is to maintain soldiers in Afghanistan after a NATO combat mission ends next year. Karzai's decision to suspend the talks threatens to wreck US efforts to start a dialogue with the Taliban, which President Barack Obama had welcomed as an important step towards ending 12 years of war.

Charges pending against Afghans accused of prison abuse: Australia

June 18, 2013 23:30
By Rob Taylor CANBERRA (Reuters) - Afghan authorities will lay charges against officials at a prison run by the country's internal security service, Australia said on Wednesday, just weeks after Canberra blocked prisoner transfers over fears of detainee mistreatment. Afghan authorities were taking action after Australia stopped handing over insurgent suspects to an NDS-run detention facility at the coalition base in Tirin Kot, in southern Uruzgan province, Australia's Defense Minister Stephen Smith said.

United States to meet Taliban to seek Afghan peace

June 18, 2013 11:31
By Mark Felsenthal, Hamid Shalizi and Dylan Welch WASHINGTON/KABUL (Reuters) - The United States will meet the Taliban this week for talks aimed at achieving peace in Afghanistan, where U.S.-led forces and the insurgents have fought a bloody and costly war for the past 12 years, U.S. officials said on Tuesday. The Taliban opened an office in Doha, the Qatari capital, on Tuesday to help restart talks and said it wanted a political solution that would bring about a just government and end foreign occupation of Afghanistan.

Four US troops killed in attack on Afghan base

Agence France-PresseJune 18, 2013 19:32
Four American troops were killed Tuesday in an insurgent attack on Afghanistan's Bagram air base, a US defense official said, as Washington announced plans to hold talks with the Taliban. The deaths were caused by insurgent "indirect fire," either mortars or rockets, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. ddl/jk
Syndicate content