Following up on preliminary reports earlier this month, US officials are now confirming that direct talks between US and Taliban negotiators came to a screeching halt after the Afghan government deliberately sabotaged them.
US officials now say that the talks had been making progress, and that they were discussing the potential release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, captive for more than two years. The talks were to be held under the utmost secrecy.
But the Afghan government wasn’t keen on being left out of the talks, fearing they would undermine President Hamid Karzai, and leaked information, including the identities of negotiators, to the media, killing the talks and sending the Taliban’s negotiator into hiding.
In addition to cutting the Afghan government out of the “direct talks,” officials with Pakistan’s government say that they were not informed about the talks either. Officials familiar with the situation say this was the Taliban’s decision, after the Pakistani government sabotaged previous efforts that it knew about.
A series of IED and small arms attacks in Kandahar have killed six US soldiers starting last Tuesday, August 23 through Sunday, August 28. At least one soldier died each day of the week except Friday in what looks to be a repeat day after day of the same failed tactics. These soldiers are all 25 or younger being led in the same mindless foot patrols through mind fields and small arms fire from ambushes. Sundays IED/small arms death was the 66th US soldier to die in combat in August, 2011 in the secret war in Afghanistan.
Exact same plan as in Vietnam. Young grunts playing the landmine lottery all day, Special Ops kicking in doors and killing people all night and failed peace talks on the weekends.
This has been the worst August EVER for US/NATO casualties and now Libya is already waiting in the wings…
So? I need one reason (other than the lives of civilians being cut short and the waste of tax dollars) why I should give a rat's ass anymore.
Simply bring the troops back, no need to negotiate anything with anyone.