U.S., Britain, and Germany will send more, not less, troops to Afghanistan next year. U.S. is committed to three additional brigades. We won't be cease-firing anytime soon nor will ISAF numbers be decreasing anytime soon. Instead, they'll grow larger.
Talks? Afghanistan and America will talk with anybody who'll first lay down their arms, declare loyalty to and respect the afghani constitution, and take part in the electoral process. If they do so under those terms, I'd hardly consider them "taliban" any longer. Would you? Those terms, btw, sound no different than those by which the GoP would entertain discussions.
MY terms for talking would include the necessary recording of bio-metrics of their recanting miscreants such that, should they again pick up arms and be captured on the battlefield, off with their heads...whoops, sorry. We don't do that, do we?