What Do the Taliban Want in Afghanistan? A Lost Constitution Offers Clues. By Mujib Mashal – New York Times
There is an air of expectation on both sides as the Taliban and American diplomats gather to meet for the latest round of peace talks on Saturday.
Afghan and Western officials say that if the Taliban express willingness to finally go to the negotiating table with the Afghan government, American diplomats might be willing to play their main negotiating card this time: offering some sort of provisional schedule for the withdrawal of United States troops from Afghanistan.
That phase of agreement has evaded negotiators for more than nine months, through six rounds of talks in Doha, Qatar. The hardest work, however, might come only after the Taliban and Afghan officials agree to sit down and begin discussing a political settlement…