Karzai Divides Afghanistan In Reaching Out to Taliban - WSJ.com:

"...key leaders of Afghanistan's three largest ethnic minorities told The Wall Street Journal that they oppose Mr. Karzai's outreach to the Taliban, which they said could pave the way for the fundamentalist group's return to power and reignite civil war.

Mohammed Mohaqeq, a lawmaker and former warlord representing the 2.5-million-strong Hazara minority, endorsed Mr. Karzai in last year's presidential race, contributing to his reelection.

'We feel betrayed by the president,' Mr. Mohaqeq says now. 'It seems that what President Karzai pursues now is the Talibanization of Afghanistan. The only difference between him and the Taliban is that he sits in the presidential palace and the Taliban sit in the mountains.'

Mr. Karzai's overtures, formally launched at a June peace conference where he called insurgents 'brothers' and 'dear Talibs,' included asking the United Nations to remove Taliban leaders from the international sanctions black list and ordering the freeing of Taliban suspects from government custody. A separate government-sponsored conference of clerics in Kabul passed a resolution singling out insufficient enforcement of Sharia Islamic laws, the Taliban's key demand, as the obstacle to peace. This month, Mr. Karzai created a formal negotiating committee for talks with Taliban leaders."

Read it all. It's a very good way of considering if NATO troops are doing a good job supporting this "new" regime....

Photo: Winds of Jihad.