Why U.S. - Taliban Peace Talks Are Going To Fail

U.S. Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Zachary Fisher speaks with Afghan men about a vehicle checkpoint during a partnered security patrol in Helmand province, Afghanistan, Dec. 30, 2011. Fisher is a fire team leader assigned to India Company, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Reece Lodder

Taliban Pinpoint Limits of U.S. Peace Effort -- Wall Street Journal

In Prelude to Nascent Negotiations, Insurgents Spurn Constitution, Karzai.

KABUL—The Taliban ruled out recognizing the Afghan Constitution and the "stooge Kabul administration" of President Hamid Karzai, even as they open negotiations with the U.S., underscoring the challenges faced by the budding peace effort.

The Taliban statement on Thursday came a day after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she would send a diplomatic team to Kabul next week to discuss with Mr. Karzai the opening of a Taliban representative office in Qatar and the possible release of senior Taliban members held at Guantanamo Bay.

"The Taliban has made clear in its comments that it is negotiating only a prisoner release at this point, not a reconciliation with the Karzai government, which it still regards as illegitimate," said former senior Central Intelligence Agency official Bruce Riedel, who oversaw the Obama administration's Afghanistan policy review in 2009.

It won't be clear for months, if ever, whether the Taliban can be persuaded to discuss a broader political deal, he said.

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My Comment: The Russians learned only later that the Mujaheddin (today's Taliban) were never interested in negotiating a peace agreement with them .... they just wanted them out of the country so that they could overthrow the Soviet installed regime in Kabul. Today .... the Taliban's leadership are also focused on winning the war .... and their priority (right now) is to get Western forces out of the country. As to issues like this one, they are just diversions.