The Washington Post is reporting that Taliban representatives and Afghan president Hamid Karzai’s government have begun “secret, high-level talks” about negotiating an end of the war, based on intel from Afghan and Arab sources. The talks come after meetings held over a year ago in Saudi Arabia that were deemed “inconclusive.” Increasing the chances that an agreement might actually be reached this time around is that Taliban representatives are, for the first time, reportedly “fully authorized” to speak on behalf of the Quetta Shura, the Afghan Taliban organization based in Pakistan. Though the discussions are still considered preliminary, a source the Post describes as close to the talks claims the Taliban is “very, very serious about finding a way out.”
Taliban in high-level talks with Karzai government, sources say [WP]
