SINGAPORE, (Reuters) – The United States has stepped up direct talks with the Afghan Taliban for a political settlement of the 10-year-old war, the Washington Post reported yesterday, a move that analysts said earlier was easier following the death of Osama bin Laden.
A U.S. representative attended at least three meetings in Qatar and Germany, including one “eight or nine days ago” with a Taliban official considered close to the group’s leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, the report said, citing an Afghan official.
It said that Washington was hoping to make progress in these talks before July, when President Barack Obama announces the first troop withdrawals from