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src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121004183903js_/http://www.nytimes.com/ads/common/embed3.js"> </script> </div> <div id="main"> <div class="spanAB wrap closing"> <div id="abColumn" class="abColumn"> <div id="article">  <div class="columnGroup first"> <h1 itemprop="headline" class="articleHeadline"><nyt_headline version="1.0" type=" ">U.S. Abandoning Hopes for Taliban Peace Deal</nyt_headline></h1> <div class="articleSpanImage"><span itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope itemid="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/10/02/world/JP-PEACE/JP-PEACE-articleLarge.jpg" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject"> <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121004183903im_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/10/02/world/JP-PEACE/JP-PEACE-articleLarge.jpg" width="600" height="350" alt="" border="0" itemprop="url" itemid="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/10/02/world/JP-PEACE/JP-PEACE-articleLarge.jpg"> <meta itemprop="identifier" content="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/10/02/world/JP-PEACE/JP-PEACE-articleLarge.jpg"/> <meta itemprop="height" content="600"/> <meta itemprop="width" content="350"/> <div itemprop="copyrightHolder" class="credit">Bryan Denton for The New York Times</div> <p itemprop="description" class="caption">An influx of American troops in Afghanistan pushed the Taliban back, but did not batter them. </p> </span> </div>  <nyt_byline> <h6 class="byline">By <span itemprop="creator" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemid="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/r/matthew_rosenberg/index.html"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121004183903/http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/r/matthew_rosenberg/index.html" rel="author" title="More Articles by MATTHEW ROSENBERG"><span itemprop="name">MATTHEW ROSENBERG</span></a></span> and <span itemprop="creator" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemid="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/n/rod_nordland/index.html"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121004183903/http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/n/rod_nordland/index.html" rel="author" title="More Articles by ROD NORDLAND"><span itemprop="name">ROD NORDLAND</span></a></span></h6> </nyt_byline> <h6 class="dateline">Published: October 1, 2012 </h6> <div class="shareTools shareToolsThemeClassic articleShareToolsTop" data-shares="facebook,twitter,google,email,showall|Share,print,singlepage,reprints,ad" data-title="U.S. Abandoning Hopes for Taliban Peace Deal" data-url="https://web.archive.org/web/20121004183903oe_/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/02/world/asia/us-scales-back-plans-for-afghan-peace.html" data-description="Once ambitious American plans for ending the war in Afghanistan are now being replaced by the far more modest goal of setting the stage for Afghans to work out a deal among themselves."></div> <meta name="emailThisHash" content="Ax/iBcTbTQjKQOt5Zff3dg"> <div class="articleBody"> <span itemprop="copyrightHolder provider sourceOrganization" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Organization" itemid="http://www.nytimes.com"> <meta itemprop="name" content="The New York Times Company"/> <meta itemprop="url" content="https://web.archive.org/web/20121004183903/http://www.nytco.com/"/> <meta itemprop="tickerSymbol" content="NYSE NYT"/> </span> <meta itemprop="copyrightYear" content="2012"/> <nyt_text> <nyt_correction_top> </nyt_correction_top> <p itemprop="articleBody"> KABUL, Afghanistan — With the surge of American troops over and the <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121004183903/http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/t/taliban/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="More articles about the Taliban." class="meta-org">Taliban</a> still a potent threat, American generals and civilian officials acknowledge that they have all but written off what was once one of the cornerstones of their strategy to end the war here: battering the Taliban into a peace deal. </p> </div> <div class="articleInline runaroundLeft">  <div class="columnGroup doubleRule"> <h3 class="sectionHeader">Related</h3> <ul class="headlinesOnly multiline flush"> <li><h6>Times Topic: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121004183903/http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/afghanistan/index.html">Afghanistan</a></h6></li> <li> <h6><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121004183903/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/02/world/asia/suicide-bomber-afghanistan.html?ref=asia"> Suicide Bomber on Foot Attacks Joint Patrol in Eastern Afghanistan, Killing 19</a> (October 2, 2012) </h6> </li> <li> <h6><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121004183903/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/01/world/asia/suspected-insider-attack-in-afghanistan.html?ref=asia"> 5 Are Dead After Clash Between U.S. and Afghan Troops</a> (October 1, 2012) </h6> </li> </ul> </div> <div class="doubleRule"><div class="story"> <div class="runaroundRight"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121004183903/http://twitter.com/#!/nytimesworld"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20121004183903im_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/04/26/world/nytimesworld-twitter-icon/nytimesworld-twitter-icon-thumbStandard.jpg" height="75" width="75" alt="World Twitter Logo."/></a></div> <h4><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121004183903/http://twitter.com/#!/nytimesworld">Connect With Us on Twitter</a></h4> <p class="summary">Follow <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121004183903/http://twitter.com/#!/nytimesworld">@nytimesworld</a> for international breaking news and headlines.</p> <p class="summary"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121004183903/https://twitter.com/#!/nytimesworld/nyt-foreign-journalists/members">Twitter List: Reporters and Editors</a></p> </div></div> </div> <div id="readerscomment" class="inlineLeft"></div> <div class="articleBody"> <p itemprop="articleBody"> The once ambitious American plans for ending the war are now being replaced by the far more modest goal of setting the stage for the Afghans to work out a deal among themselves in the years after most Western forces depart, and to ensure <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121004183903/http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/pakistan/index.html?inline=nyt-geo" title="More news and information about Pakistan." class="meta-loc">Pakistan</a> is on board with any eventual settlement. Military and diplomatic officials here and in Washington said that despite attempts to engage directly with Taliban leaders this year, they now expect that any significant progress will come only after 2014, once the bulk of <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121004183903/http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/n/north_atlantic_treaty_organization/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="More articles about the North Atlantic Treaty Organization." class="meta-org">NATO</a> troops have left.  </p><p itemprop="articleBody"> “I don’t see it happening in the next couple years,” said a senior coalition officer. He and a number of other officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the delicacy of the effort to open talks. </p><p itemprop="articleBody"> “It’s a very resilient enemy, and I’m not going to tell you it’s not,” the officer said. “It will be a constant battle, and it will be for years.” </p><p itemprop="articleBody"> The failure to broker meaningful talks with the Taliban underscores the fragility of the gains claimed during the surge of American troops ordered by President Obama in 2009. The 30,000 extra troops won back territory held by the Taliban, but by nearly all estimates failed to deal a crippling blow. </p><p itemprop="articleBody"> Critics of the Obama administration say the United States also weakened its own hand by agreeing to the 2014 deadline for its own involvement in combat operations, voluntarily ceding the prize the Taliban has been seeking for over a decade. The Obama administration defends the deadline as crucial to persuading the Afghan government and military to assume full responsibility for the country, and politically necessary for Americans weary of what has already become the country’s longest war. </p><p itemprop="articleBody"> Among America’s commanding generals here, from Stanley A. McChrystal and David H. Petraeus to today’s John R. Allen, it has been an oft-repeated mantra that the United States is not going to kill its way out of Afghanistan. They said that the Afghanistan war, like most insurgencies, could only end with a negotiation. </p><p itemprop="articleBody"> Now American officials say they have reduced their goals further — to patiently laying the groundwork for eventual peace talks after they leave. American officials say they hope that the Taliban will find the Afghan Army a more formidable adversary than they expect and be compelled, in the years after NATO withdraws, to come to terms with what they now dismiss as a “puppet” government. </p><p itemprop="articleBody"> The United States has not given up on talks before that time. It agreed last month to set up a committee with Pakistan that would vet potential new Taliban interlocutors, and the Obama administration is considering whether to revive a proposed prisoner swap with the insurgents that would, officials hope, reopen preliminary discussions that collapsed in March, current and former American officials said. Those are both seen as long-term efforts, however. </p><p itemprop="articleBody"> With the end of this year’s fighting season, the Taliban have weathered the biggest push the American-led coalition is going to make against them. A third of all American forces left by this month, and more of the 68,000 remaining may leave next year, with the goal that only a residual force of trainers and special operations troops will remain by the end of 2014. </p><p itemprop="articleBody"> Bringing Pakistan into the search for Taliban contacts is also an uncertain strategy, American officials said. The details of the new vetting committee have yet to be worked out, and “if we are depending on Pakistan, it comes with an asterisk,” one of the officials said. “We never know whether they will see it through.” </p><p itemprop="articleBody"> The American shift toward a more peripheral role in peace efforts represents another retreat from Washington’s once broad designs for Afghanistan, where the surge, along with a sharp escalation of nighttime raids by Special Operations Forces against Taliban field commanders, were partly aimed at forcing the Taliban into negotiations, making a Western withdrawal more feasible. </p><p itemprop="articleBody"> For a brief moment, the strategy appeared to be working: preliminary talks, painstakingly set up throughout 2011, opened early this year in Qatar, in the Persian Gulf. </p><div id="pageLinks"><ul id="pageNumbers"><li> 1 </li><li> <a onclick="s_code_linktrack('Article-MultiPagePageNum2');" title="Page 2" href="/web/20121004183903/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/02/world/asia/us-scales-back-plans-for-afghan-peace.html?pagewanted=2">2</a> </li></ul><a class="next" onclick="s_code_linktrack('Article-MultiPage-Next');" title="Next Page" href="/web/20121004183903/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/02/world/asia/us-scales-back-plans-for-afghan-peace.html?pagewanted=2">Next Page »</a></div><nyt_author_id> <div class="authorIdentification"> <p>Eric Schmitt contributed reporting from Washington, and Sangar Rahimi from Kabul.</p> </div> </nyt_author_id><nyt_correction_bottom> <div class="articleCorrection"> </div> </nyt_correction_bottom><nyt_update_bottom> </nyt_update_bottom> </nyt_text> </div> </div>  <div class="columnGroup "> <div class="articleFooter"> <div class="articleMeta"> <div class="opposingFloatControl wrap"> <div class="element1"> <h6 class="metaFootnote">A version of this article appeared in print on October 2, 2012, on page <span itemprop="printSection">A</span><span 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href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121004183903/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/04/opinion/understanding-kids-gangs-and-guns.html">Op-Ed: Understanding Kids, Gangs and Guns</a></h3> <p class="summary">Our myths about gun violence hinder our attempts to solve the epidemic.</p> </div> </td> <td class="hidden"> <div class="story"> <h6 class="kicker"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121004183903/http://www.nytimes.com/pages/fashion/index.html">Fashion & Style »</a> </h6> <div class="mothImage"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121004183903/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/04/fashion/the-gospel-according-to-pinterest.html"><span class="img" src="http://i1.nyt.com/images/2012/10/04/fashion/04MOTH_PINTEREST/04MOTH_PINTEREST-moth.jpg" alt="The Gospel According to Pinterest" width="151" height="151"/></a> </div> <h6 class="headline"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121004183903/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/04/fashion/the-gospel-according-to-pinterest.html">The Gospel According to Pinterest</a></h6> </div> </td> <td class="hidden"> <div class="story"> <h6 class="kicker"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121004183903/http://www.nytimes.com/pages/opinion/index.html">Opinion »</a></h6> <h3><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121004183903/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/03/clothing-the-poorest-for-survival/">Fixes: The Clothing Divide</a></h3> <p class="summary">In the poorest places, the lack of proper clothing costs lives. 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