Afghanistan’s Karzai Wants Talks With Taliban Leader; Is It Because Of Obama’s Timeline?

Afghan President Hamid Karzai says he’s willing to talk with Taliban chief Mullah Omar in an attempt to bring peace.

But Karzai says he wants guarantees that the U.S. and its international partners are backing any peace bid. He says previous efforts at talks with the Taliban were undermined when ex-members of the hard-line movement were “harassed” by international forces even though they had quit the insurgency.

Karzai says not all Taliban are terrorists but members of al-Qaida and other terror groups are not welcome in the country.

Possibly, it was President Obama setting a timeline that is compelling Afghanistan to get its act together.

For Afghans, the change in tone was unmistakable. Unlike Bush-era speeches pledging unending support, President Obama suddenly introduced a timeline and a period of 18 months before the start of a drawdown of troops.

The timetable set off alarm here and may have already succeeded in Mr. Obama’s goal of focusing Afghans’ attention.

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.