US should talk to Afghan neighbours: Kissinger
November 2nd, 2011 - 11:19 am ICT by IANS
Washington, Nov 2 (IANS) Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger has suggested that the US should first hold talks with Afghanistan’s neighbouring countries before holding any negotiation with the Taliban.
“I have no objection in principle to negotiating with the Taliban,” Kissinger said at the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson International Centre. “But for the purpose of ending the war, it’s the wrong sequence of events.”
“The first negotiation in my view ought to be with surrounding countries,” he said, referring to countries like India, Pakistan and Iran.
“If there is a negotiation with the Taliban, it should be in the framework of a multilateral regional negotiation,” he said.
The Obama administration has decided to pull out US forces from Afghanistan in 2014. Analysts argued that the Taliban, given the fixed timeline, will simply adopt the strategy of “waiting it out”.
“If you negotiate while your forces are withdrawing, you’re not in a great negotiating position,” Kissinger noted.
But he also admitted that there is not going to be sufficient public support in the US if the war in Afghanistan stretches beyond the 2014 deadline.
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- Kissinger urges US-China cooperation to avoid collision - Sep 28, 2011
- Pak snubs 'impatient' US' demands for expanding areas for CIA drone operations - Nov 20, 2010
- Pak intelligentsia urges Obama to change Afghan strategy - Dec 13, 2010
- "There is no moderate Taliban": Musharraf - Sep 30, 2010
- PML-Q women want Pakistan to talk with Taliban - May 30, 2011
- Violence not affecting Afghan transition: NATO chief - Feb 29, 2012
- Afghanistan seeks Indian equipment for security forces (Lead) - May 01, 2012
- Kabul pact: Pakistan's India discomfort makes it hard, says US (Lead) - May 02, 2012
- Secret Taliban-Afghan govt talks to end war underway: Sources - Oct 06, 2010
- 'Re-abandoning Afghanistan not an option' - Jan 16, 2012
- Clinton regrets Afghan shooting incident - Mar 22, 2012
- Former US secretary of state Kissinger falls ill - Mar 13, 2010
Tags: former us secretary of state, henry kissinger, india pakistan, iran, negotiation, neighbouring countries, neighbours, nov 2, objection, principle, secretary of state, sequence of events, taliban, timeline, us secretary of state, war in afghanistan, woodrow wilson, woodrow wilson international