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| Afghanistan |
| Taliban leader Mullah Omar 'sent letter to Barack Obama' |
| 2012-02-03 |
| Mullah Omar, the shadowy Taliban leader, has purportedly sent a letter to The White House indicating an interest in peace talks. The unsigned note claims to carry a message directly from the one-eyed militant to Barack Obama, urging the US president to release senior Taliban fighters from Guantánamo Bay as a first step towards peace talks in Afghanistan. If the letter is confirmed to have come from the fugitive mullah it would be the strongest indication yet that the upper echelons of the Taliban movement are prepared to come to the negotiating table after ten years of insurgency. This week, Leon Panetta, the US Defence Secretary, said that the US wanted to end its combat role in Afghanistan by the middle of 2013, a year earlier than previously publicised, enabling an expedited draw-down of the US’s current 90,000-strong fighting force. Last month, the Taliban made a surprise announcement that it would open a political office in Qatar, although questions remain over whether the movement is serious about a long-term settlement or wants to bargain for prisoner releases. |
| Posted by:tipper |