Afghanistan backs US-Taliban deal

Afghanistan has announced its approval for the opening of a Taliban political office in Qatar as part of plans to resolve the decade-long conflict with the group. Although Afghanistan's High Peace Council has accepted the deal, it has warned that no foreign power should engage with the Taliban without Afghanistan's consent and that the office should only be used to conduct negotiations. The statement follows reports suggesting that the US and Germany had secretly agreed with the Taliban to open an office in Doha. This is while the Afghan government had released a statement rejecting the deal on Saturday. Kabul says that the Taliban must stop attacks, cut ties with al-Qaeda, and accept the Afghan constitution before any negotiations can begin. Afghanistan says that the peace process needs the support of Pakistan where a number of Taliban members are based. The United States invaded Afghanistan in 2001 under the pretext of combating terrorism and eradicating the Taliban militancy but its failure has forced Washington to turn to negotiation with the militants. The rising number of casualties of US-led foreign troops and Afghan civilians has increased opposition to the Afghan war among NATO member states such as the US and Britain. US officials announced earlier that some 10,000 US troops had pulled out from Afghanistan. There are currently 91,000 US troops in Afghanistan -- down from the peak of 101,000 in June. However, insecuritycontinues to rise across Afghanistan despite the presence of nearly 140000 foreign forces in the country The US government has planned new rounds of talks with the Taliban in early 2012.