UK Wants to Talk to Taliban

Just back from Kabul, Gordon Brown is poised to announce a major strategic revision in Afghanistan that will involve dialogue with the Taliban. Senior British officials believe that treating the loose-knit organization as a unified terrorist actor is counterproductive, the Independent reports, and they want to move from fighting militants to talking to them. But the new strategy might cause tension between the UK and Washington hawks.

Brown will tell the British parliament today that Hamid Karzai will introduce Afghan troops into towns retaken by British forces and will reinforce stability there via political agreements with tribal leaders, some of whom have previously aligned with the Taliban. The Bush administration might disagree with the new policy, but one source in Brown's office said the White House has "been talked through all of this." (More Afghanistan stories.)