US weighs fate of Taliban political office

The Trump administration is considering a plan that would aim to close the Taliban political office in Qatar, a move that triggered an unusual internal protest by State Department officials who said it would undermine U.S. interests in Afghanistan, according to current and former U.S. officials.

A group of State Department specialists on South Asia filed the rare internal “dissent channel cable” on Friday to urge that the U.S. keep the Taliban office open and launch more-intensive talks to end the 16-year-old war in Afghanistan, according to people familiar with the move, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The memo was signed by a handful of officials, the people said, including some longtime State Department employees whose contracts with the department expired on Friday and weren’t renewed.

“We are grateful for the previous team’s hard work in trying to promote peace and reconciliation,” said Heather Nauert, a State Department spokeswoman. “Talented officials from within the system will continue these efforts. Our willingness to support a reconciliation process is not in question; the willingness of the Taliban to seriously engage is.”

The unclassified memo to top State Department leaders urged them to keep the Taliban office open to help ensure that a serious push for peace talks isn’t put on the back burner while the U.S. sends 4,000 more U.S. forces into Afghanistan to try to break a battlefield stalemate with the Taliban.

The Taliban opened their Doha political office in 2013, with support from the U.S., Afghan and Qatari governments. Political leaders hoped the move would set the stage for serious peace talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government. But the initiative quickly stalled, and some U.S. officials say the Taliban office has been a disappointment.

Last month, Mr. Trump unveiled a new Afghanistan strategy that will increase the U.S. military force in Afghanistan from about 12,000 to about 16,000 in an effort to shore up Afghan forces struggling to repel Taliban advances across the country.

Source: MENA