Gates: "Serious" Taliban Talks Likely

The Daily Beast reports:

As he prepares to retire this month, the defense secretary remains concerned about nuclear proliferation, U.S. supremacy, Libya—and his successor. In a lengthy interview with John Barry, Gates also discusses Hillary Clinton, Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden, the tone in D.C., and other matters. Gates also talks about America losing its grip in this week’s Newsweek. Here are some of Gates' extended comments from the interview.

... “I’ve always believed that, at the end of the day, there is no alternative to a political solution [in Afghanistan]. The question is, on whose terms? And I think we are increasingly in a position that reconciliation [with the Taliban] could take place on the terms of the Afghan government and the Coalition.”

“Talk to our commanders. Their view is that this is the critical year, because we have taken away all of the Taliban’s heartland, and if they can’t take it back this year, and we further expand the security bubble, then—just like the sheikhs in Anbar province [in Iraq] who had come to the conclusion that they could not beat us—they come to the table. I’m not saying it will all be settled by the end of the year. I’m just saying you could begin a serious dialogue by the end of the year.”