Afghan Govt Stance on Peace Talks

There is a lot of discussion about what the Afghans want to accomplish in the stalled peace talks with the Taliban. This is difficult to ascertain based on conflicting statements and actions by Afghan government officials. One key document does shed light on the Afghan government approach. It is the "Peace Process Roadmap to 2015" released by the High Peace Council in November 2012. The document starts with a vision of what the political environment looks like in 2015, outlines a five-step approach to the peace talks to reach that vision, and provides some principles that need to be followed during the conduct of the peace talks. The insurgency will not be beaten by ISAF prior to its departure in December 2014. There is little hope that the Afghans security forces will be able to beat the Taliban in some of their strongholds in parts of the east and south (Kunar, Nuristan, Helmand, and Nangarhar). So the peace talks with the Taliban are key to resolving the conflict.