If this is any indication of the new method of approach with the Taliban perhaps the US can actually change its reputation in Afghanistan and the region.

Clinton backs Taliban dialogue

Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, has said Taliban members prepared to abandon violence should be offered “an honourable form of reconciliation” in Afghanistan.

Speaking at an international conference at The Hague in the Netherlands on Tuesday, Clinton said she backed efforts by Afghanistan’s government to “separate the extremists of al-Qaeda and the Taliban from those who joined their ranks not out of conviction, but out of desperation”.

March 31, 2009, 11:56am

Should he?

Obama floats talking with Taliban - CNN.com

(CNN) — President Obama says the United States is open to reaching out to some moderate voices in the Taliban, but critics say that’s not the right approach.

March 09, 2009, 2:02pm

Al Jazeera English - CENTRAL/S. ASIA - ‘Secret’ Taliban talks under way

Western officials, the Afghan government and Taliban-linked mediators have been engaged in secret negotiations to bring elements of the group into Afghanistan’s political process, Al Jazeera has learned.

February 26, 2009, 3:55pm

Taliban, Pakistan make permanent truce in volatile valley - CNN.com

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) — The Taliban and the government of North West Frontier Province in Pakistan have agreed to a permanent cease-fire in the nation’s volatile Swat Valley, an official said.

February 21, 2009, 9:15pm