WASHINGTON, Jan. 12 (UPI) -- There are few indications that members of the Taliban have given up on their aim to rule an Islamic Afghanistan, a U.S. intelligence estimate indicates.
The Taliban ruled over Afghanistan guided by an ultra-conservative view of Islamic laws before they were unseated by the U.S.-led invasion in 2001. A decade later, the top-secret National Intelligence Estimate warns the group hasn't given up on hopes to take power again, the McClatchy news service reports.
"There is no indication that the Taliban are ready to settle for a goal short of total control over an Islamic emirate," a U.S. official was quoted as saying on condition of anonymity.
The Taliban said recently it was opening a political liaison office in Qatar to facilitate reconciliation talks with Afghan leaders, something Afghan President Hamid Karzai embraced late last year.
Washington said it would support an Afghan-led reconciliation initiative as long as the Taliban renounces violence and honors the spirit of the Afghan Constitution. The U.S. government said it was reviewing whether to release some Taliban members from custody as part of a tit-for-tat exchange.
The revelations from the NIE come as a video surfaced on YouTube depicting what appear to be U.S. Marines urinating on the dead bodies of Taliban in Afghanistan.
