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Obama mulls reaching out to moderate Taliban
U.S. President Barack Obama is open to the idea of reaching out to moderate elements of the Taliban, The New York Times reported on Saturday.In an interview with the newspaper published on its website, Obama said that some of the U.S. success in Iraq involved reaching out to Islamic fundamentalists who had been alienated by the tactics of al Qaeda in Iraq. "There may be some comparable opportunities in Afghanistan and the Pakistani region," he said. "But the situation in Afghanistan is, if anything, more complex." Obama, who last month approved the deployment of 17,000 more troops to Afghanistan as part of an effort to stabilize the country, had suggested before becoming president that he was open to talks with more moderate Taliban leaders. Insurgent violence is at its highest in Afghanistan since U.S.-led forces toppled the Taliban in late 2001. Obama, who sees the Afghan conflict as a more pressing concern than the unpopular war in Iraq, is trying to convince other NATO nations to boost troop commitments to the international operation Posted by: john frum 2009-03-07 |
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