Confirmed: NATO facilitating talks between Karzai, Taliban

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The official said NATO forces in Afghanistan were granting safe passage to Taliban leaders traveling to Kabul to meet with Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s government.

“It would be extremely difficult for a senior Taliban member to get to Kabul without being killed or captured if ISAF were not witting, and ISAF is witting,” the official told reporters. ISAF is an acronym for the International Security Assistance Force, a coalition of troops from NATO members and other allies in Afghanistan. The official spoke in Brussels, where coalition members were being briefed on the war…

Although many have applauded the prospect of negotiations, former Northern Alliance military and political leaders, including former senior government officials ousted by Karzai after they objected to negotiations, have grown increasingly uneasy over the prospect of substantive talks that could give the Taliban a role in the government.