British army chief wants Taliban talks

Head of the British Army General David Richards has called for talks with the Taliban amid a surge in militant attacks against foreign forces in Afghanistan.

Gen. Richards said that in every counter-insurgency campaign, there is “always a point which you start to negotiate with each other.”

The top British army official went on to insist that negotiations with the Taliban should begin “pretty soon” as part of an exit strategy for NATO forces.

Senior officials in the UK have floated the idea of engaging in peace talks with the Taliban — the militant group whose uprooting was one of the main objectives of the 2001 invasion.

In addition, US officials have also been pressing, covertly as well as overtly, for opportunities to hold negotiations with the Taliban using Pakistan as an intermediary.

Head of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Leon Panetta admitted Sunday that the Afghan war has proven to be much harder and longer than anticipated. The CIA chief also alluded to serious problems in the US-led war, acknowledging that the Taliban are gaining an upper hand in the battle.

Meanwhile, Afghan President Hamid Karzai is reported to have met with the Taliban’s most senior commander Serja-eddin Haggani in Kabul. Reports also indicate that the meeting was mediated by Pakistan’s spy agency, the Inter-Services intelligence.

The meeting comes as a late May report by the UK daily The Guardian said that US army helicopters regularly deliver supplies behind Taliban lines and even fund their religious schools.

The new negotiation strategy comes as American and British officials had previously vowed to uproot the Taliban and their operatives in the region.

The plan has provoked criticism about the Western double standard policy in terms of their slogan of “war against terror.”