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Robert Gates: Taliban Talks 'Preliminary'
Says he wouldn't expect real progress until at least winter
By Polly Davis Doig,  Newser Staff

Posted Jun 19, 2011 11:51 AM CDT


(Newser) – Robert Gates confirmed today that the US is in "preliminary" talks with the Taliban, reports the Hill, cautioning that they've only been going on for a "few weeks." Appearing on State of the Union and Fox News Sunday, the outgoing defense secretary said the State Department was handling talks—though not at the level of Hillary Clinton—but that he didn't expect "substantive headway until at least this winter. "I think the Taliban have to feel themselves under military pressure and begin to believe that they can't win before they are willing to have a serious conversation."

http://www.newser.com/story/121409/robe ... inary.html

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