As recently as Aug. 7, President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan declared the Taliban a "defeated" and "spent" terrorist force, and vowed publicly, together with President George W. Bush, to finish off the militia. But barely seven weeks later, Karzai has publicly pleaded with the reclusive Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, and a notoriously murderous warlord leader, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, to meet with him for peace talks.
