Gates Acknowledges Talks with Taliban

“We have said all along that a political outcome is the way most of the wars end,” Mr. Gates said. “The question is when and if they are ready to talk seriously.”

Good luck with that Mr Gates.
The Taliban are so delusional they always believe they are winning, you can't talk to these people because you don't know who you are talking to.
the last time this happened the people they were talking to did not represent the Taliban and everyone looked like idiots.
Well they will still all look like idiots, until they put a bigger effort into defeating the Taliban instead of talking about withdrawing troops.

The New York Times
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates acknowledged on Sunday that the United States had begun preliminary talks with members of the Taliban as part of an effort to end the war in Afghanistan.

But as he pressed his case against withdrawing a significant number of American troops from the region this year, he said that he did not believe the negotiations would produce any positive results unless the Taliban continued to feel military pressure through the end of the year.

In an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Mr. Gates cautioned that the talks were in such early stages — having begun a few weeks ago — that officials were still uncertain the Taliban participants were genuine representatives of the Taliban leader Mullah Omar. He said the effort was being carried out by American diplomats but did not directly involve the secretary of state, Hillary Rodham Clinton. And he said several other countries were participating, though he did not specify which ones.

“We have said all along that a political outcome is the way most of the wars end,” Mr. Gates said. “The question is when and if they are ready to talk seriously.”

Referring to his concerns about drawing down too many American troops this summer, he added, “Real reconciliation talks are not likely to be able to make substantive headway until at least this winter. I think the Taliban have to feel themselves under military pressure and begin to believe they can’t win before they are willing to have a serious conversation.”