Defense secretary confirms negotiations aimed at ending war
U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has confirmed the U.S. is currently in talks with the Taliban with a view to ending the war in Afghanistan. Gates says the talks are still preliminary and that U.S. troops will remain in Afghanistan through the end of the year at least in order to keep military pressure on the Taliban. “Real reconciliation talks are not likely to be able to make substantive headway until at least this winter,” Gates says. “I think the Taliban have to feel themselves under military pressure and begin to believe they can’t win before they are willing to have a serious conversation.” Gates recently announced he would be stepping down after serving as defense secretary under both the Bush and Obama administrations.