Well, this is an interesting development

The day job is going to be occupying much of my time this week, so blog posts will be trending towards the “open thread” variety.  Like this one about Saudi-brokered negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban.  Here’s Jon Boone and Roula Khalaf in the Financial Times a few days ago:  Hamid Karzai risked angering members ...

By , a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast.

The day job is going to be occupying much of my time this week, so blog posts will be trending towards the "open thread" variety.  Like this one about Saudi-brokered negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban.  Here's Jon Boone and Roula Khalaf in the Financial Times a few days ago:  Hamid Karzai risked angering members of his government and his US backers yesterday when the Afghan president revealed he had asked the Saudis to help -broker peace talks with the Taliban leadership. Mr Karzai said his envoys had travelled to Saudi -Arabia and neighbouring Pakistan to try to kick-start negotiations that are increasingly seen as the only solution to the violent insurgency gripping Afghanistan.... According to a person familiar with the talks, the Saudis have been involved since July, when they were first approached by Pakistan-based Taliban clerics. The Saudis sent an envoy to Kabul and started shuttling between the two sides. Indirect talks hosted by the Saudis took place last week in Mecca but serious discussions between the two sides have yet to begin. The Afghan leader also appealed directly to Mullah Omar, the Taliban leader overthrown as ruler of Afghanistan by the US-backed invasion in 2001, to return to Afghanistan. Mr Karzai said he would protect him and his colleagues from the US-led -coalition forces if they took him up on his offer to return, to "come and work for the peace and good of your people". CNN's report today sounds a more optimistic note:  Taliban leaders are holding Saudi-brokered talks with the Afghan government to end the country's bloody conflict -- and are severing their ties with al Qaeda, sources close to the historic discussions have told CNN. According to the source, fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar -- high on the U.S. military's most-wanted list -- was not present, but his representatives were keen to stress the reclusive cleric is no longer allied to al Qaeda. Details of the Taliban leader's split with al Qaeda have never been made public before, but the new claims confirm what another source with an intimate knowledge of the militia and Mullah Omar has told CNN in the past. The current round of talks, said to have been taken two years of intense behind-the-scenes negotiations to come to fruition, is anticipated to be the first step in a long process to secure a negotiated end to the conflict. Discuss. 

The day job is going to be occupying much of my time this week, so blog posts will be trending towards the “open thread” variety.  Like this one about Saudi-brokered negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban.  Here’s Jon Boone and Roula Khalaf in the Financial Times a few days ago: 

Hamid Karzai risked angering members of his government and his US backers yesterday when the Afghan president revealed he had asked the Saudis to help -broker peace talks with the Taliban leadership. Mr Karzai said his envoys had travelled to Saudi -Arabia and neighbouring Pakistan to try to kick-start negotiations that are increasingly seen as the only solution to the violent insurgency gripping Afghanistan…. According to a person familiar with the talks, the Saudis have been involved since July, when they were first approached by Pakistan-based Taliban clerics. The Saudis sent an envoy to Kabul and started shuttling between the two sides. Indirect talks hosted by the Saudis took place last week in Mecca but serious discussions between the two sides have yet to begin. The Afghan leader also appealed directly to Mullah Omar, the Taliban leader overthrown as ruler of Afghanistan by the US-backed invasion in 2001, to return to Afghanistan. Mr Karzai said he would protect him and his colleagues from the US-led -coalition forces if they took him up on his offer to return, to “come and work for the peace and good of your people”.

CNN’s report today sounds a more optimistic note: 

Taliban leaders are holding Saudi-brokered talks with the Afghan government to end the country’s bloody conflict — and are severing their ties with al Qaeda, sources close to the historic discussions have told CNN. According to the source, fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar — high on the U.S. military’s most-wanted list — was not present, but his representatives were keen to stress the reclusive cleric is no longer allied to al Qaeda. Details of the Taliban leader’s split with al Qaeda have never been made public before, but the new claims confirm what another source with an intimate knowledge of the militia and Mullah Omar has told CNN in the past. The current round of talks, said to have been taken two years of intense behind-the-scenes negotiations to come to fruition, is anticipated to be the first step in a long process to secure a negotiated end to the conflict.

Discuss. 

Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast. Twitter: @dandrezner

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