Kabul (March 13, 2018): US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said at the start of an visit to Afghanistan on Tuesday that the United States is picking up signs of interest from Taliban elements in exploring the possibility of talks to end the more than 16-year-old war.
“There is interest that we’ve picked up from the Taliban side,” Mattis told reporters shortly before landing in Kabul, saying the signs date back several months.
“We’ve had some groups of Taliban small groups, who have either started to come over or expressed an interest in talking,” he added
The United States last year stepped up its military assistance to Afghanistan, notably through a sharp increase in air strikes, with the aim of breaking a stalemate with the insurgents and forcing them to the negotiating table.
While the US military says the strategy has hit the Taliban hard, they still control or contest much of the country.
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