Kissinger: US should talk with region before Taliban

The United States should negotiate first with Afghanistan’s neighbours before sitting down with the Taliban over how to end the decade-long war, ex-US secretary of state Henry Kissinger said on Tuesday. In a thinly-veiled critique of White House policy, the elder statesman also said Washington had severely curtailed its ability to reach a settlement in Afghanistan due to unnecessarily telegraphing the departure of US troops. “I have no objection in principle to negotiating with the Taliban,” Kissinger told an audience at a panel discussion at the Woodrow Wilson International Centre, a think-tank in Washington. “But for the purpose of ending the war, it’s the wrong sequence of events. The first negotiation in my view ought to be with surrounding countries,” including Pakistan, India and Iran, nations seeking greater influence in Afghanistan as the United States orchestrates its exit. “If there is a negotiation with the Taliban, it should be in the framework of a multilateral regional negotiation,” Kissinger said.