Free Republic

The mediating role Qatar has played in freeing Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the last American soldier held captive in Afghanistan, in exchange for releasing five senior Taliban detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has raised once again skepticism in the U.S. Congress and media about Qatar’s commitment to monitor these hardened militants who should remain in their custody for a year, and suspicions about its complex relations with a myriad of radical Islamist groups operating in an area stretching from South Asia to North Africa. The exchange occurred in the wake of unprecedented public tensions between Qatar and its three immediate neighbors...

The Taliban, which harbored al Qaeda in Afghanistan in the lead up to the 9/11 attacks on America in 2001, will have an office in Afghanistan and engage in direct talks with the democratic government there, President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai affirmed at a joint White House news conference Friday. “Ultimately security gains must be matched by political progress, so we’ve recommitted our nations to a reconciliation process between the Afghan government and the Taliban,” Obama said. “President Karzai updated me on the Afghan government’s road map to peace, and today we agreed that this process should...