World

The Taliban Open a Door to Peace. An Angry Karzai Shuts It

BY ARYN BAKER

Right after his re-election in 2009, Afghan President Hamid Karzai famously invited his "Taliban brothers" to the negotiation table. The Taliban called him an "American puppet" and RSVP'd their regrets with a spate of suicide attacks.

It looks like the tables have turned. On June 18, senior members of the Taliban government that ruled Afghanistan before the U.S. invasion in 2001 opened an office in Doha, Qatar. The elaborate ceremony, complete with a ribbon cutting, prayers and the raising of the Taliban flag, was more a...

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