AP – The Afghan Taliban on Saturday denied that their leader Mullah Omar had written to President Barack Obama last July.
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Taliban deny their leader sent letter to Obama
(AP)
Reuters – U.S. forces will cede the lead role in combat operations in Afghanistan next year, but will keep fighting alongside Afghan troops, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on Thursday, as the Obama administration struggled to clear up confusion over its Afghan exit strategy.
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U.S. tries to ease confusion over Afghan plans
(Reuters)
Reuters – Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney said on Monday the United States should not negotiate with the Taliban and he criticized the Obama administration for efforts to broker secret talks with the Afghan insurgents.
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Romney says U.S. should not negotiate with Taliban
(Reuters)
Reuters – Seeing a new glimmer of hope in its effort to broker Afghan peace talks, the Obama administration is launching a fresh round of shuttle diplomacy with an immediate goal of sealing agreement for Taliban insurgents to open a political office in the Gulf state of Qatar.
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U.S. launches new push to secure Afghan peace talks
(Reuters)
AP – Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Saturday welcomed remarks from the Obama administration that the Taliban were not necessarily America’s enemies.
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Afghan president welcomes US remarks on Taliban
(AP)
AP – The Obama administration hopes to restore momentum in the spring to U.S. talks with the Taliban insurgency that had reached a critical point before falling apart this month because of objections from Afghan President Hamid Karzai, U.S. and Afghan officials said.
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US wants 2012 talks for Taliban political office
(AP)
Reuters – The Obama administration is considering transferring to Afghan custody a senior Taliban official suspected of major human rights abuses as part of a long-shot bid to improve the prospects of a peace deal in Afghanistan, Reuters has learned.
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U.S. mulls transfer of Taliban prisoner in perilous peace bid
(Reuters)
Reuters – A key Republican U.S. senator warned against negotiating with the Taliban on Monday, illustrating the political risk the Obama administration is taking by considering a prisoner transfer as part of a bid to end the Afghan war.
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Key senator warns against Taliban talks, transfer
(Reuters)
At New York Times , ” 17 Are Killed as Suicide Bomb Hits a U.S. Bus in Afghanistan .” KABUL, Afghanistan — At least five American soldiers, eight American contract workers and four Afghans were killed when a Taliban suicide car bomber attacked an armored shuttle bus in Kabul on Saturday, a military official said. It was the single deadliest attack for Americans in the capital since the war began, military officials said, and follows brazen Taliban assaults on the American Embassy and NATO headquarters in the city last month. A NATO official said all of the contract workers were Americans, but the coalition did not officially confirm that. Such high-profile attacks have been seen as a shift in Taliban strategy as they struggle against a surge in American troops that has loosened the militants’ grip on the Taliban heartland in the South and compromised their ability to stage more conventional attacks on NATO forces. American officials see the latest assaults as the Taliban’s attempt to shake confidence in the Afghan government, which is taking over security from NATO in Kabul and other areas of the country.
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17 Die as Suicide Blast Hits U.S. Bus in Afghanistan
