Earlier this month we reported the U.S. was taking steps to talk to the Taliban in Qatar. Plans have been agreed to set up some kind of public affairs office but that move did not play well with the President of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai. And so he’s jump-started the talks by attempting to create his own dialogue with the Taliban. Senior officials in Kabul have told our partner the BBC the Taliban has agreed to the meeting. No further details have been given but talks are expected to start in the coming weeks.
Joining the program from the BBC World Service in London is Alex Strick, author of “An Enemy We Created: The Myth of the Taliban Al-Qaeda Merger.”