Britain and US prepared to open talks with the Taliban

[Turborama]

Source: The Guardian

A concerted effort to start unprecedented talks between Taliban and British and American envoys was outlined yesterday in a significant change in tactics designed to bring about a breakthrough in the attritional, eight-year conflict in Afghanistan.

Senior ministers and commanders on the ground believe they have created the right conditions to open up a dialogue with "second-tier" local leaders now the Taliban have been forced back in a swath of Helmand province. They are hoping that Britain's continuing military presence in Helmand, strengthened by the arrival of thousands of US troops, will encourage Taliban commanders to end the insurgency. There is even talk in London and Washington of a military "exit strategy".

Speaking at the end of the five-week Operation Panther's Claw in which hundreds of British troops were reported to have cleared insurgents from a vital region of Helmand province, Lieutenant-General Simon Mayall, deputy chief of defence staff, said: "It gives the Taliban 'second tier' room to reconnect with the government and this is absolutely at the heart of this operation."

The second tier of the insurgency are regarded as crucial because they control large numbers of Taliban fighters in Pashtun-dominated southern Afghanistan. The first tier of Taliban commanders – hardliners around Mullah Omar – could not be expected to start talks in the foreseeable future. The third tier – footsoldiers with no strong commitments – are not regarded as influential or significant players.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/27/britain-us-talks-taliban-afghanistan

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Contrary to a quote later on in The Guardian's article...

"Asked whether he needed more troops, Brigadier Tim Radford, commander of British troops in Helmand, replied: "I have enough forces to do what I set out to do in Panther's Claw."

The Times go with...

Britain 'will need more troops' for success in Afghanistan

Source: The Times

Michael Evans, Defence Editor, and Francis Elliott

Britain may need to send more troops to Afghanistan despite the success of Operation Panther’s Claw, military chiefs admit.

The scale of the challenge http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6729639.ece">was revealed yesterday as it emerged that British soldiers have faced nearly 1,000 roadside bombs in the past three months. Although 3,000 troops managed to drive out about 500 Taleban during the five-week offensive, they will be fully deployed holding an area in Helmand province about the size of the Isle of Wight, their commanding officer admitted.

Brigadier Tim Radford, commander of Task Force Helmand, said that the existing troops could not be expected to mount further significant operations without reinforcements. Gordon Brown hailed the offensive as an “heroic” military success, saying it had made Britain safer and “pushed back the Taleban”. David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, however, called for renewed efforts to engage the Taleban politically.

Efforts to bolster faltering public support for British involvement in Afghanistan were undermined further when the Ministry of Defence announced that two more soldiers had been killed. Brigadier Radford said that although 23 soldiers have died since the operation began on June 19, only 10 directly related to the offensive in central Helmand.

Read more: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6729794.ece

[Flaneur]

1. But I thought the Taliban was absolute evil personified.

And now we want to negotiate with them?