Talks fail as 'Obstinate' Taliban not ready to shun its war against US

Lahore, Nov. 26 (ANI): The US' proposal to hold talks with the Afghan Taliban leadership with Pakistan and Saudi Arabia playing the role of mediators has fallen apart, as the Taliban is hell-bent upon fighting the US-led international forces.

According to sources, the Central Investigation Agency (CIA) has been working to hold secret talks with the Taliban leadership with the help of the Saudi leadership and the General Intelligence Directorate (GID) of Saudi Arabia and the Pakistani leadership and the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), however, all such initiatives have failed to yield any desired result due to the massive trust deficit between the two sides and the Taliban's 'obstinacy'.

"The talks eventually failed due to the obstinacy of the Taliban representatives who first wanted the withdrawal of the US-led allied forces from Afghanistan," The News quoted sources, as saying.

There has been a sea change in the US' attitude regarding the eight year long 'war on terrror' in Afghanistan, as it has now declared that it is not opposed to the idea of holdinh talks with the banned outfit to establish peace in the region.

Of late, the emphasis has shifted and the focus now on to bring the Taliban on board and make it discontinue its ties from Al-Qaeda.

However, sources privy to the issue, said that only middle rank Taliban leaders had agreed for the talks, and any decision made by these leaders would not have made any major impact on Afghan insurgency. (ANI)