Those who were alive at the time of the Paris Peace Talks in 1971 should be getting a sense of deja vu as the US negotiates with the Taliban so it can withdraw its combat forces. BBC: The US is engaged in talks with the Taliban, Afghan President Hamid Karzai has said, in the first high-level confirmation of US involvement. Mr Karzai said that "foreign military and especially the US itself" were involved in peace talks with the group. Hours later, suicide bombers attacked a Kabul police station, killing nine. Earlier this month, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said there could be political talks with the Taliban by the end of this year. The US is due to start withdrawing its 97,000 troops from Afghanistan in July. It aims to gradually hand over all security operations to Afghan security forces by 2014. [...] The BBC's Paul Wood in Kabul says the attack is part of the Taliban strategy to strike at the heart of government. Paradoxically, he says, the greater the likelihood of peace...(Read Full Post)