UK general says Taleban talks should begin 'soon'

Calling his position a "purely private view," Gen. Sir David Richards told the BBC on Sunday that he didn't know when talks could begin. But Richards, a former commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, said "there's no reason why we shouldn't be looking at that sort of thing pretty soon." He said in any counterinsurgency campaign comes "a point which you start to negotiate with each other." The military must continue its work alongside development efforts "to make sure that they don't think that we are giving up. It's a concurrent process and both are equally important," Richards said.