The Saudi Arabia had been asked by Afghanistan’s president Hamid Karzai to arrange talks with the ‘Taliban’ about some kind of power-sharing. The British government supports such attempts and British military have spoken in favor of negotiations. The U.S. administration does not want such negotiations (or at least not now while McCain campaigns on a ‘surge’ strategy in Afghanistan.) Secretary of Defense Gates called such talks ‘defeatist’ even while U.S. military folks are pessimistic about Afghanistan and have spoken in favor of political solutions.
Reports about a first round of negotiations were first published two weeks ago. They took place in Saudi Arabia with Karzai’s elder brother Qayum in attendance. From the anti-U.S. side Gulbuddin Hekmatyar took part. Not a real Taliban, but one of three major war lords fighting the U.S. with his own gang, Hekmatyar is also a former ‘freedom fighter’ who even was invited for a photo with Reagan in the Oval Office. But in current U.S. parlor he is a ‘global terrorist’.
After these negotiations became public, indirect pressure was put on Hamid Karzai. Old reports of his younger brother’s drug mafia relations were suddenly relaunched in the NYT. His older brother who led the talks and is also a member of the Afghan parliament was accused of lack of attendance and had to resign.
The U.S. wants permanent presence in Afghanistan. The British and other NATO countries are smart enough to know that this can not be achieved. They want out and to get out some kind of talks need to happen. The Afghan mujaheddin have no reason to agree to any U.S. or NATO presence. They are winning for now and that is unlikely to change.
Hamid Karzai may get fired one of these days and may get be replaced with current U.S. ambassador to the UN (and neocon) Zalmay Khalilzad.