ISLAMABAD -- Diplomats and businesses are calling on the U.S. to come to a compromise with the Taliban in Afghanistan urgently to keep Islamic State group at bay and also to open up trade in the region.
Diplomats said the U.S. has come to realize that the Taliban cannot be defeated completely and has begun talks to cease the violence, although negotiations will be protracted. The first direct talks between a senior U.S. diplomat and a five-member Taliban delegation in Qatar last week failed to halt escalating violence across Afghanistan, a gateway to other regional countries with vast reserves of oil and gas.
