Clinton expressed skepticism

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed skepticism of any talks with the top Taliban leadership as there was no indication from the militants group that it was interested in renouncing violence and abide by the Afghan constitution.

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The upper levels of the Taliban have to renounce al Qaeda, renounce violence. They have to be willing to abide by the constitution of Afghanistan and live peacefully, Clinton told the ABC news in an interview.    She said that the US has no firm information whether any of those leaders would be at all interested in following that kind of a path. In fact, I'm highly skeptical that any of them would, Clinton said.    Referring to the speech made by President Barack Obama last week on Afghanistan, Clinton said there are two different approaches. One is what could be called reintegration. That is really looking at the lower-level members of the Taliban, who are there through intimidation and coercion, or, frankly, because it's a better living than they can make anywhere else, she said.    We think there's a real opportunity for a number of those to be persuaded to leave the battlefield. Now, the problem, of course, once they leave they'll get killed if they're not protected. And that's one of the reasons why we're trying to get these secure zones, she said, adding that the US needs to secure the population there. So, we're going to be consulting with our Afghan partners. It's going to be a multiply-run operation to see who might come off of the battlefield and who might possibly give up their allegiance to the Taliban, Clinton said. She was also highly skeptical of the possibility of any high level negotiations with the Taliban.    We don't know yet. And again, I think that  we asked Mullah Omar to give up bin Laden before we went into Afghanistan after 9/11; he wouldn't do it. I don't know why we think he would have changed by now, she said.    However, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates was of the view that they would come on the negotiation table only when they do not have any other option left. I think that the likelihood of the leadership of the Taliban, or seniors leaders, being willing to accept the conditions Secretary Clinton just talked about depends, in the first instance, on reversing their momentum right now, and putting them in a position where they suddenly begin to realise that they're likely to lose, Gates said. The Secretary of State said the US is in Afghanistan primarily because of its national security interests and not to build the country. We have a commitment to trying to protect our national security. That's why we're there. We do want to assist the people of Afghanistan and to try to improve the capacity of the Afghan government, she said.