Reuters
DAWN: US sees Taliban as reconciliation partners: Pentagon
WASHINGTON: The US Department of Defence has said that it’s no longer conducting counter-terrorism operations against the Taliban in Afghanistan because it views the group as an important partner in its efforts for restoring peace in the war-ravaged country.
“What we’re not doing (is) counter-terrorism operations against the Taliban,” Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis told a Wednesday evening news briefing in Washington.
“We actually view the Taliban as being an important partner in a peaceful Afghan-led reconciliation process. We are not actively targeting the Taliban,” he added.
Update: Not conducting any operation against Afghan Taliban, view them as ‘Reconciliation Partners': United States (Daily Pakistan).
WNU Editor: News outlets in Pakistan are posting this story .... but there has been no confirmation from Western outlets. This gives me hope that this story may not true. But if this story is true .... my jaw will drop even more from where it is right now.
Update: It is official, the U.S. will no longer conduct counter-terrorism operations against the Taliban in Afghanistan ....
.... We continue though in Afghanistan, even though our primary missions is train, advise, and assist, we’ve actually retained a U.S.-only – this is actually not coalition, but it’s a U.S.-only unilateral role of being able to conduct counterterrorism missions in Afghanistan primarily against al-Qaida and its remnants, but ISIS would be fair game as well. What we’re not doing counterterrorism operations against is the Taliban. We don’t – we actually view the Taliban as being an important partner in a peaceful Afghan-led reconciliation process. We are not actively targeting the Taliban. [1]
Hat Tip Jay for this link.