Vying for Peace: What a Deal with the Taliban Might Look Like by J.P. Lawrence - Stars & Stripes
KABUL - As the United States and the Taliban attempt direct talks in hopes of ending the 17-year Afghan War, analysts say the Taliban’s control over large parts of the country has emboldened them to ask a high price for their cooperation.
Any talks now are in the preliminary stages, but interviews with former militants and researchers, along with dispatches from unofficial peace conferences, provide insight into what the Taliban, the Kabul government and the U.S. will ask for during negotiations.
“These are going to be negotiations about real significant power for the Taliban,” said Vanda Felbab-Brown, senior fellow at the Washington-based Brookings Institution. “They can ask for a lot. Every signal they have seems to be going their way, militarily and politically.”
U.S. officials have spoken to the Taliban at least three times in recent months to learn what the militants would demand in any formal talks, Waheed Muzhda, an ex-Taliban who remains in contact with the group, told Stars and Stripes.
Nothing has been agreed to, but militants told U.S. envoy Alice Wells that they want a timeline for withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan and the release of prisoners, Muzhda said.
Wells reportedly met with the Taliban in Qatar on July 25, after a brief truce in June.
Talks have recently broken down between the U.S. and the Taliban, according to Taliban leaders who spoke to Reuters.
A State Department spokesman said there were no meetings with the Taliban scheduled, but that staffing for a new “peace and reconciliation unit” based in Washington and Kabul is expanding…