Karzai: Afghanistan, US negotiating with Taliban

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghan President Hamid Karzai says his government and the United States are negotiating with Taliban fighters to bring peace to the country.

It is the first official acknowledgment of such talks to end the decade-long war through negotiation.

Karzai told journalists Saturday in Kabul that “peace talks have started with (the Taliban) already and it is going well.”

He said “foreign militaries, especially the United States of America, are going ahead with these negotiations.”

Officials at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul could not be immediately reached for comment Saturday.

Karzai has been making peace overtures to members of the Taliban, which ruled Afghanistan for five years and sheltered al-Qaida before being driven out of power in the U.S.-led invasion in late 2001.