US,Taliban envoy meet thrice to end Afghan war: report

But Tayeb Agha,who was an aide to Mullah Omar during Taliban’s rise to power,was arrested by Pakistani authorities last year and then released,leading American officials to assume that he is negotiating on behalf of the Taliban with the blessings of the Pakistani authorities,the report said.

We’re at that stage where it’s very confusing, said one senior administration official,adding that the meetings could not even be called ‘talks’ at this stage,let alone ‘peace talks’.

The wariness in part reflects the fact that the Obama administration has been badly embarrassed by previous diplomatic efforts.

An Afghan was given substantial sums of cash last year and was flown on a NATO aircraft in the belief that he was a Taliban envoy,but he turned out to be an impostor.

US President Barack Obama’s strategy for gradually ending the war in Afghanistan relies heavily on peace talks with the Taliban. But those talks have hardly begun,and even some administration officials acknowledge that the odds of success are slim.

Declaring that US had largely achieved its goals in Afghanistan,Obama last week ordered withdrawal of his troops from there starting this year,with 30,000 leaving initially,a process that would continue until the Afghans take over the security in 2014.

The withdrawals will see a first group of 10,000 American soldiers brought home from Afghanistan this year and another 23,000 by the end of September 2012,two months before voters decide whether to give Obama a second term.

However,the US has imposed significant conditions for any reconciliation with the Taliban. The movement’s leaders must disarm,sever ties with al-Qaeda’s remaining leadership,recognise the government in Afghanistan and accept the country’s Constitution,including basic rights for women,who were severely repressed when the Taliban governed the country in the 1990s.

It is uncertain whether the Taliban or even parts of its leadership are willing to accept such conditions,and many experts are deeply skeptical,the report said.

Among the many reasons: It is not clear that Taliban want to negotiate,or who even represents the organisation. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has distanced himself from the talks,raising doubts about whether the country’s leaders would be open to a reprise of Taliban involvement in the political process,the report said.

Further,Pakistan,the vital third leg of negotiations because of its ties to the Taliban,is increasingly a wild card because of recent strains with the United States over the drone assaults on terrorist suspects inside Pakistan,it said.

Obama told American soldiers at Fort Drum,New York on Thursday that because of you,there are signs that the Taliban may be interested in figuring out a political settlement,which ultimately is going to be critical for consolidating that country.

So far,however,those signs are hazy at best,The Times quoted the officials and diplomats as saying.

The Obama administration now recognises that a final American withdrawal depends on a political settlement with the Taliban.

US special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan,Marc Grossman has not been directly involved in the initial contacts with the Taliban envoy. That work has been handled by Frank Ruggiero,a Grossman deputy,and Jeff W. Hayes,an official of the Defense Intelligence Agency who is working on the National Security Council,one official said.

Grossman has participated in two meetings with senior officials from Afghanistan and Pakistan. The first,coincidentally,took place in Pakistan on May 3,the day after the American raid that killed Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad,Pakistan.