U.S. Should Allow Taliban To Reconcile, Says Udall

By Samira Sadeque

Fresh off a trip that included visits to Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, Senator Mark Udall (D-Colo.) told reporters on Monday that he would support reconciliation with the Taliban.

“I support negotiations,” Udall said, adding that “the timing has to be right.”

The Colorado Democrat said that although U.S. forces are making progress in driving the Taliban from certain areas and villages in Afghanistan, a political solution to ending the war has yet to be developed. Until that happens, Udall said, the U.S. must continue to support the war-torn nation.

“We are not going to build a 21st century democracy in Afghanistan” he said. “But we can be there to provide support for them so that we are not attacked again like we were on 9/11.”

According to Udall, the U.S. and NATO’s current strategy under Gen. David Petraeus seeks to pressurize the Taliban while simultaneously providing assistance to Afghans in Pashtun and other tribal areasl. The ongoing civil war between the Afghan government and the Taliban must be “concluded through negotiations,” he added.

On Iraq, Udall told reporters that efforts to help Iraq form a new inclusive government are continuing. Those efforts, he said, are mainly focused on fostering negotiations between current Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and incoming PM Ayad Allawi, each the respective leader of parties that will have majority blocs in the next parliament.

Udall said, however, that he warned al-Maliki that “if political groups cannot form a proper government in the future, it [will be] hard to ask the U.S. Congress to continue to support Iraq.”