January 3rd, 2012
08:57 AM ET

Taliban ready for talks, purported spokesman says

The Afghan Taliban are prepared to open an "office outside the country for talks with foreigners," a purported spokesman for the movement said in a statement released Tuesday.

The statement could signal the Taliban's public willingness to talk to the United States for the first time.

Calling himself "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan spokesman," Zabiullah Mujaheed said the Taliban has a "preliminary agreement with Qatar and other respective sides."

The Taliban are asking for the release of prisoners from the United States detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in exchange for opening the office, he said.

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Filed under: Afghanistan • Taliban • World
soundoff (30 Responses)
  1. bobcat (in a hat)©

    @ banasy©

    Yeah, you get tired of the SOS. If something new and truly concrete developed, it would be different.

    January 3, 2012 at 3:05 pm | Report abuse |
  2. saywhat

    If their is some sense & sanity left in those who are in control of our destiny, we will get out of Afghanistan. Get the neighboring powers including Iran on board to get stability in that region. India, China, Russia, Pakistan all have stakes there because they are located there not us & we have to work with them.
    It is foolish to think that sitting tens of thousands of miles away across oceans, we alone can handle Afghanistan with our hardware.

    January 3, 2012 at 3:05 pm | Report abuse |
  3. banasy©

    @bobcat (iah)©:
    If you want to read something hilarious, (if you can, I couldn't get through it!) go to the "Daughter of Iranian Leader in Jail" blog.

    January 3, 2012 at 3:08 pm | Report abuse |
  4. banasy©

    @saywhat:
    It is foolish to put our nose into their business in the first place.
    The stability of the region depends on those countries you mentioned; THEY need to work on their own stability, as our stability is quite shake economically here at home...
    The United States problems are constantly being ignored in favor or a part of the world that has consistently stated that they hate is and wish us harm.
    Let's give them what they want; leave them to their own devices.

    We have enough on our plate here at home.

    January 3, 2012 at 3:13 pm | Report abuse |
    • saywhat

      You are right @ banasy. It was foolish to put our noses in their affairs & then some, on tha scale of full fledged invasion.
      But have we ever paused to think why whole regions have turned hostile to us? We coddle and pamper and buy the rulers & regimes and forget the populace.
      We bomb and invade and occupy their lands for years, kill and be killed and then we wonder why they don't love us. And please, they didn't start it. Bush Sr invaded Iraq much before 9/11 and established military bases in S.Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar giving rise to the Al-Qaeda "get rid of foreigners from our lands" movement of Osama Bin Laden.

      January 3, 2012 at 9:50 pm | Report abuse |
  5. bobcat (in a hat)©

    @banasy©

    I just got back from the Iranaian Daughter blog. What the heck was that ? I don't know if I even recognized the language. Kind of early life jibberish.

    January 3, 2012 at 3:25 pm | Report abuse |
  6. .com cop

    @ banasy why of course if theres religous gangs here in america that has no respect for other peoples lifes and freedom sure,about the only one that I can think of that even comes close is them wackos that disrupt military funerals.What about you can you name any

    January 3, 2012 at 3:32 pm | Report abuse |
  7. banasy©

    @.com cop:

    Westboro Baptist Church...that's who I was primarily thinking of.

    The RCC has done much to harm our nation's children.

    The extreme zealots who bomb abortion clinics, and murder their doctors and nurses.

    Some of the Hall of Shamers of the past:
    Branch Davidians.
    Warren Jeffs and FLDS.
    Jim Jones and Guyana, although he started here in the US.
    The Haley-Bopp Comet cult; the name escapes me.

    But mostly the RCC.
    Not everybody in it; but the ones who call the shots...you know, similar to what's happening with Al Quaeda and the Taliban...
    They just blow up children's psyche's instead of buildings, but you get the gist.

    January 3, 2012 at 3:56 pm | Report abuse |
  8. banasy©

    @bc(iah)©

    I know, right?!

    January 3, 2012 at 3:58 pm | Report abuse |
  9. Pete/Ark

    WOW! They've created the most sought after jobs in all of Afganistan...staffing an office OUTSIDE Afganistan ! Oh , how the bribe money will flow...

    January 3, 2012 at 5:27 pm | Report abuse |
  10. banasy©

    Mmmmmhmmmm, Portland tony, it's called D.C.

    January 3, 2012 at 6:41 pm | Report abuse |
  11. banasy©

    Oh, I'm sorry, I meant Pete/Ark.

    January 3, 2012 at 6:42 pm | Report abuse |
  12. رأفت طنينه

    Hot article from middle East
    http://www.rafatnet.wordpress.com

    January 3, 2012 at 8:14 pm | Report abuse |
  13. banasy©

    @saywhat:
    Rational people have known all this for years; I am wondering about the rationality of the decisions to keep fanning the flames.
    Most of us know why they hate us, and in most cases it's deserved...that being said, once again, we need to quit imposing our ideology on countries that don't want it, on the pretense that we're helping them...when it is more to *our* benefit than theirs...
    And it's to our benefit for oil purposes only...

    What happened to supply and demand?
    I'm being simplistic, I know, but they can supply our demand without us taking over their countries.

    I'm just getting tired of it all.
    We don't need to occupy every country on the face of the earth.

    January 3, 2012 at 11:43 pm | Report abuse |
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