Afghanistan, Afghan-taliban Peace Talk | featured news

After more than a year of sporadic contacts, U.S.-Taliban talks have been stalled for months, deflating Obama administration hopes that progress toward a political solution to the Afghan war would be well underway this spring.

The Afghan government has joined the United States in talks with the Taliban, Afghan President Hamid Karzai says in a new report.

After 10 months of secret dialogue with Afghanistan's Taliban insurgents, senior U.S. officials say the talks have reached a critical juncture and they will soon know whether a breakthrough is possible, leading to peace talks whose ultimate goal is to end the Afghan war.

Pakistan has denied the Afghan government's claim its spy agency was involved in the killing of Afghanistan's envoy for Taliban peace talks.

Afghanistan's government denied a report on Tuesday that it had been holding secret peace talks with the Taliban's number two leader, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, when he was arrested in Pakistan.