Monday, December 19, 2011

Military Prison - Taliban Talks Reach Turning Point Reuters - Exclusive - Secret U

By Missy Ryan , Mark Hosenball

WASHINGTON Mon Dec 19, 2011 3:13pm EST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - After 10 months associated with secret dialogue with Afghanistan's Taliban insurgents, elderly U.S. authorities state the talks have got reached an essential juncture along with they should before long find out no matter if your breakthrough will be possible, resulting peace shares whose supreme purpose could be to end the Afghan war.

As portion of that accelerating, high-stakes diplomacy, Reuters has learned, the actual United States will be taking into consideration the transfer associated with an unspecified quantity of Taliban prisoners through the Guantanamo Bay navy prison towards Afghan federal government custody.

It possesses asked officials of the Taliban to help go with that will confidence-building determine using a few of their own. Those could possibly contain a denunciation regarding intercontinental terrorism including a criminal court enthusiasm in order to type in formal political shares while using federal government advancing simply by Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

The authorities credited that your Afghanistan diplomacy, which has reached some sort of sensitive stage in recently available weeks, remains some sort of longer shot. Among the particular complications: U.S. soldiers are generally sketching affordable but will be generally removed because of the conclusion regarding 2014, potentially lowering the incentive for the Taliban for you to negotiate.

Still, the senior officials, all of whom insisted on anonymity to share brand new details from the mostly secret effort, encouraged it is often a considerably larger piece of President Barack Obama's Afghanistan scheme than is definitely freely known.

U.S. authorities have got presented concerning 50 % a dozen get togethers using insurgent contacts, mostly inside Germany in addition to Doha having representatives of Mullah Omar, boss belonging to the Taliban's Quetta Shura, that officials said.

The stakes within the diplomatic effort could not possibly be higher.

Failure could condemn Afghanistan in order to extended conflict, possibly perhaps civil war, soon after NATO soldiers finish off transforming safety onto Karzai's fragile federal through the conclude of 2014.

Success would suggest your political end towards war as well as probability in which regions of the actual Taliban - some hardliners appear just about guaranteed to refuse the particular speaks - may be reconciled.

The effort is definitely now at the pivot point.

"We picture this we are around the side connected with missing out on into your next phase. Which is in fact enjoy that we have a workable siphon as well as being in some sort of place to be able to deliver" on common confidence-building measures, stated a new elderly U.S. official.

While quite a few U.S.-Taliban contacts have been formerly reported, the actual scope of the base diplomacy as well as doable prisoner exchange haven't already been created public right until now.

There are usually a little a lot fewer that 20 Afghan citizens at Guantanamo, according to several accountings. It can be certainly not acknowledged which in turn kinds is likely to be transferred, nor what exactly assurances the White House includes which the Karzai federal government could maintain them in its custody.

Guantanamo detainees include happen to be released for you to currency authorities - in addition to sometimes placed cost-free by way of these people - before. But the airport transfer as part of a diplomatic negotiation appears unprecedented.

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