US to drop Mullah Omar from blacklist
Washington, 2008 Oct 28, Press TV
The US agrees to drop the name of the Taliban leader, Mullah Omar from the terror list ahead of talks with the insurgents, an official says.
"US intends to remove Mullah Omar from the black list in a bid to provide a suitable seedbed for holding contacts with the Taliban," said Sunday, the US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs Patrick S. Moon.
Moon added that during his upcoming visit to Kabul, he will fully support the idea of negotiated settlement with the Taliban militants to end the violence in the region. He also reiterated that the talks with the Taliban insurgents were possible within the Afghan Constitution.
Also, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that the United States was considering taking part in talks with Taliban in a sharp change in tactics in Afghanistan.
The developments come at a time when US, British and NATO forces are experiencing some of the most violent attacks since the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan.
Mullah Mohammad Omar, known as simply 'Mullah Omar', is the reclusive leader of Taliban of Afghanistan and was the country's de facto head of state from 1996 to 2001. He went into hiding, following the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.
Mullah Omar was wanted by the US for harboring Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda network.
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