Expert says regional peace deal needed in Afghanistan|World|chinadaily.com.cn: "Anatol Lieven, chair of International Relations and Terrorism Studies at King's College London, said Taliban insurgents should be accepted as a political force in Afghanistan through talks as the country would otherwise fall into a civil war after 2014, when most international troops are set to leave. "I think America's biggest role in the future could, and should, be to broker a regional peace settlement rather than trying to devise or dictate a peace settlement itself," said Lieven, who covered the Soviet war in Afghanistan as a journalist in the 1980s.
The ongoing war in Afghanistan began in October 2001 as the armed forces of the US, Britain and the Afghan United Front (Northern Alliance) launched Operation Enduring Freedom, invading the country in response to the Sept 11, 2001, attacks with the stated goal of dismantling the al-Qaida terrorist organization and ending its use of Afghanistan as a base.
Although the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) had managed to overthrow the Taliban government in late 2001 and kill former al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden on May 2, peace for Afghanistan has still not been achieved."
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