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Military pressure on the Taliban could bring them to peace talks, top US official said Saturday.
As military pressure mounts on the Taliban, "we can see real opportunities over the course of the next year" for possible peace talks, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said at a security conference in Singapore.
"The possibility of some kind of political talks and reconciliation might be substantive enough to offer some hope of progress," he said.
For the Taliban to have any political role in the war-torn country, they must accept that they will not win the military campaign against the United States and its allies, Gates said.
The Taliban must also cut their ties with Al-Qaeda and surrender all their arms if they are to have any political say in the future of the country, he added.
"I think there is a generally accepted view that primarily all conflicts of this kind eventually come to a close with some kind of a political settlement," Gates said.
Gates sees wider US military presence in Asia.
As military pressure mounts on the Taliban, "we can see real opportunities over the course of the next year" for possible peace talks, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said at a security conference in Singapore.
"The possibility of some kind of political talks and reconciliation might be substantive enough to offer some hope of progress," he said.
For the Taliban to have any political role in the war-torn country, they must accept that they will not win the military campaign against the United States and its allies, Gates said.
The Taliban must also cut their ties with Al-Qaeda and surrender all their arms if they are to have any political say in the future of the country, he added.
"I think there is a generally accepted view that primarily all conflicts of this kind eventually come to a close with some kind of a political settlement," Gates said.
Gates sees wider US military presence in Asia.