Washington Ready to Negotiate with Mullah Omar

From the Telegraph:

Her comments [have] been taken as a significant shift in American policy from moves to divide the Taliban-led insurgency and isolate Mullah Omar, the man who sheltered Osama bin Laden as he plotted the September 11 attacks, to an acknowledgement of his leadership.

It follows the disclosure earlier this month that American officials had met leaders of the Haqqani Network, the powerful Taliban faction blamed for some of the most devastating attacks on American and Nato forces in Afghanistan, including last month's attack on the US embassy in Kabul in which seven were killed and 19 wounded.

Earlier this week the faction's commander Sirajuddin Haqqani warned Washington that only the Quetta Shura, led by Mullah Omar, could negotiate a peace deal and that his fighters would not be divided from its leadership.

In an appearance before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Mrs Clinton said the United States would continue to "fight, talk and build" in Afghanistan and Pakistan to "test whether these organisations have any willingness to negotiate in good faith".

She said there was "evidence going both ways" on its intentions, citing the Haqqani Network's response to a Pakistan-brokered meeting in August between US officials and Ibrahim Haqqani, the brother of the group's top leader Jalaluddin Haqqani.

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