US representatives have met with representatives of the Taliban in Qatar. The two sides are reportedly trying to work out a confidence building measure by staging a prisoner exchange. The Americans will release some Taliban bigwigs being held in Guatanamo, while the Taliban will release an abducted aid worker, a captured American soldier and a member of the Afghan government peace delegation. As the administration has already announced that it will be withdrawing from Afghanistan by 2014, it would be useful for it to secure a peace agreement with the Taliban that would avoid a repetition of the fall of...