[Lamplighter]

LA Times
3/15/12

Taliban suspends U.S. talks as Karzai demands NATO troop pullback

The Taliban movement announced Thursday that it was suspending dialogue
with the United States, and President Hamid Karzai demanded that NATO troops pull back
to major bases and accelerate Afghan responsibility for safeguarding the country.

The Taliban statement, posted on its website and emailed to journalists,
represented a major blow to hopes for a negotiated end to the 10-year war.

The group's leadership blamed a U.S. representative for presenting conditions
that were "unacceptable" and "in contradiction with earlier agreed-upon points."
It did not specify what those conditions were, but said the movement was
"compelled to suspend all dialogue with the Americans."
<snip>

Karzai's demand for a retreat to major bases and an end to operations
in rural areas appeared to be in response to Sunday's shooting rampage,
which took place in two tiny villages not far from a U.S.-run base in Kandahar province.
Karzai's office said he had conveyed the demand to visiting Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta.

He also called for moving forward by a year -- to the end of 2013 -- the target date
for Afghan forces to take responsibility for safeguarding the country.