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A well known Pashtun leader, outspoken against the Taliban, was assassinated in Kandahar, Afghanistan today. Mohammad Nahim Agha Mama was gunned down inside a mosque while he prayed. Nahim, a tribal leader, was known for organizing against the Taliban in his local council. His is the latest in a string of killings that began last year of high-profile members of the Afghan central and provincial governments that the Taliban have taken credit for. But even while the extra-judicial killings are taking place, reports surfaced last week of an unusual event: the Taliban were opening an office in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar. Taking this to mean that the radical fundamentalist group was ready to negotiate with the US and NATO, commentators have called it a “breakthrough” in the Afghanistan war. However the Taliban’s motives remain unclear after having boycotted last December’s conference in Bonn, Germany. One unnamed senior Western intelligence official, speaking to the London Telegraph, said “[d]espite the opening of the Qatar office, we have received no indication that the Taliban are serious about engaging in serious peace talks… So far as we can tell the Taliban is simply playing a waiting game.” Yet the New York Times and others have reported of months-long efforts by the US and Taliban to meet in secret. Leading Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney criticized the Obama Administration during a debate this weekend for attempting to negotiate with the Taliban. Meanwhile, news of the scandalous video of four US Marines urinating on Afghan corpses that may be Taliban, has sparked a new point of debate among candidates vying for the US presidency. Texas Governor Rick Perry has defended the Marines against Defense Secretary Leon Panetta’s description of the act as “utterly despicable.” The infamous video could result in criminal charges against the Marines, now that a military investigation has been announced.

GUEST: Gareth Porter, frequent guest on Uprising, investigative historian and journalist specialising in U.S. national security policy and the Afghanistan war. He writes for Interpress Service