NEWS FLASH

Report: Afghans Must Lead Peace Talks Or ‘Sustainable Peace’ Unlikely | The International Crisis Group (ICG) called for a recalibration of talks between the U.S., the Afghan government and the Taliban, which the Brussels-based group said in its report were hampered by U.S. dominance and a “half-hearted and haphazard” approach by the Afghan government. The talks were “unlikely to result in a sustainable peace” if they followed this path, the group wrote. “It’s not the White House that will set the agenda for the Afghan people. It has to be the Afghan people,” ICG Afghanistan analyst Candace Rondeaux told McClatchy news. She called for greater involvement by a variety of Afghan groups in the process, including various ethnic and civil society groups.