Taliban peace talks ‘at risk’ as Obama stalls on Guantánamo

Julian Borger, diplomatic editor
From; guardian.co.uk, The Obama administration is in danger of missing an historic opportunity for a peace settlement in Afghanistan if it does not act quickly to release prisoners in response to a Taliban offer to open talks, European officials and observers claim.

The Taliban announced on 3 January that it had agreed to open a political office in Qatar for the purpose of holding peace talks with the international community, and said it expected the release of its officials being held at Guantánamo Bay.
At the time, White House officials said the administration was considering the transfer of five Taliban officials to custody in another
country, widely believed to be Qatar. But with still no movement on the prisoner transfers European officials involved in the talks are
urging Washington to act quickly to keep the momentum going towards talks before hardline spoilers on all sides can stall proceedings.

What do possible peace talks between the U.S. and the Taliban mean for Afghanistan’s future?

For more information on Taliban / US peace talks check out this report uploaded by
AlJazeeraEnglish

on Jan 11, 2012

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