When the US stopped talking to the Taliban

The World

When the Taliban was dismantled after Sept. 11, 2001, the US outsourced negotiations about the future of Afghanistan to the UN, with clear instructions: get disparate Afghan political groups to agree on an interim government leader and a new constitution as soon as possible. The talks that ensued in Bonn, Germany, laid bare the contradictions, omissions and power dynamics that would ultimately undermine Western efforts to broker true peace in Afghanistan. Reporter Soraya Lennie tells the story on a special season of The Negotiators podcast, which marks the three-year anniversary of the fall of Kabul. 

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