In the New York Review of Books Ahmed Rashid sets out his take of the Eid message the Taliban leader Mullah Omar put out: What the Taliban want.
I do not know what the Taliban want. But I am pretty sure they do not want to have their dead one-legged commander Dadullah be depicted as their alive one-eyed emir Mullah Mohammed Omar. (Thanks to Alex Strick van Linschoten for identifying Dadullah.)
Aside from that photo mix up, Ahmed Rashid claims that, contrary to recent reports, negotiations with Taliban are continuing:
An AP report on August 29 that quoted some US and Afghan officials as saying the talks have stalled is completely wrong according to my well-informed sources, who insist that they are continuing despite leaks to the press, as well as threats to the security of the participants and other problems.
That is good news.
Mullah Omar is calling for an inner-Afghan compromise provided that foreign troops leave the country and overly foreign interference, from the U.S. as well as Pakistan, stops.
The Afghan government, the White House and the State Department could probably agree to such a solution if they would only stop ignoring inner-Afghan politics. But the Pentagon will still want permanent bases in Afghanistan and may therefore, probably in cooperation with some Northern Alliance war lords who stand to lose power in a compromise, sabotage further negotiations. Rashid's report of "threats to the security of the participants" points to such interferences.
Like other international issues, for example the New START agreement, the biggest hurdle to clear in the Afghan conflict may be poltics within the Washington beltway.