US to drop Mullah Omar from blacklist

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 19:24:33 GMT
http://www.presstv.ir/

The US agrees to drop the name of the Taliban leader, Mullah Omar from the terror list ahead of talks with the insurgents, an official says.

"US intends to remove Mullah Omar from the black list in a bid to provide a suitable seedbed for holding contacts with the Taliban," said Sunday, the US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs Patrick S. Moon.

Moon added that during his upcoming visit to Kabul, he will fully support the idea of negotiated settlement with the Taliban militants to end the violence in the region. He also reiterated that the talks with the Taliban insurgents were possible within the Afghan Constitution.

Also, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that the United States was considering taking part in talks with Taliban in a sharp change in tactics in Afghanistan.

The developments come at a time when US, British and NATO forces are experiencing some of the most violent attacks since the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan.

Mullah Mohammad Omar, known as simply 'Mullah Omar', is the reclusive leader of Taliban of Afghanistan and was the country's de facto head of state from 1996 to 2001. He went into hiding, following the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.

Mullah Omar was wanted by the US for harboring Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda network.

JR/RA
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Pak, Afghanistan seek peace with Taliban

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 17:46:12 GMT presstv

Pakistan and Afghanistan have agreed on holding talks with Taliban militants in a bid to end the violence in their border region.

"We agreed that contacts should be established with the opposition in both countries, joint contacts through the jirga (mini-tribal council)," said Tuseday former Afghan foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah who led the Afghan delegation at the two-day talks in Islamabad.

Owais Ghani, the head of the Pakistani side and the governor of the country's insurgency-hit North West Frontier Province, said that the process of making contact with the militants "to some extent is already underway. We need now to speed it up."

Also, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that the United States, in a sharp change in tactics in Afghanistan, was considering taking part in talks with Taliban. The Journal report said the new approach was contained in a draft recommendation in a classified White House assessment of US strategy in Afghanistan.

Earlier reports confirmed that the Afghan-Taliban sides held talks in Mecca, Saudi Arabia on September 29.

The developments come at a time when US, British and NATO forces have experienced some of the most violent attacks since the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan.

JR/RA