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US mulls 'political role' for Taliban to end protracted stalemate

5 Afghan civilians killed in air raid

ANI, AFP, London/ Kabul
To bring the Taliban into the Afghan political process in order to achieve a peaceful resolution to the war in Afghanistan, the United States has signalled a new initiative.
The US Ambassador to Kabul said that America would be prepared to discuss the establishment of a political party, or even election candi-dates representing the Taliban, as part of a political strategy that would sit alongside reinforced military efforts to end the increasingly intractable conflict.
William Wood, the outgo-ing.US ambassador to Afghanistan, said that "insurgencies, like all wars... end when there is an agreement."
He said while the US saw "no way there could be powersharing or an enclave" for the Taliban, "there is room for discussion on the formation of political parties (or| running... for elections. That is very
different from shooting your way into power. The key requirement would be respect for the constitution," Wood added.
The move wall cause concern among allies struggling to keep pace with rapidly evolving US policy, The Observer reports.
Changing the Afghan Constitution as part of potential negotiations, taking senior Taliban figures off UN blacklists to establish dialogue and possible prisoner releases are other ideas being discussed.
European nations are cur-rendy weighing up US requests for more troops and resources for Afghanistan ahead of a series of forthcoming summits. Tough fighting is expected as America sends a surge of 17,000 troops into the country before the August elections.
Meanwhile, Afghan officials said five men killed in a US-led raid Sunday were all civilians, countering a state-menr from the military that
said they were militants from a "terrorist network.”
The claim was the latest in a string of allegations of civilian casualties at the hands of foreign forces who are in Afghanistan to fight against insurgents, including Taliban and al-Qaeda extremists.
"Afghan and coalition forces killed five militants and detained four suspected militants early this morning in Kunduz province during an operation targeting a terrorist network in northern Afghanistan," the US military said.
The operation took place near the border with Tajikistan, it said.
But provincial police chief Abdul Rehman Actash said the five men killed were civilians visiting a district mayor.
"They went into the mayor’s house and killed his driver, two guards, his cook and a guest from Sari Pul province, and confiscated two weapons from the house," Actash told AFP.