AP Photo

Evidence we have published that Mullah Omar shared, and presumably continues to share, a close working relationship with top al-Qaida leaders makes depressing reading for those who place their hope in a negotiated peace in Afghanistan. A repeated precondition for such a peace is that the Afghan Taliban renounce the international terrorist organisation. Critics of the US/Nato strategy of capturing or killing mid-level Taliban commanders argue that the Taliban and al-Qaida have fundamentally different objectives. Some have argued that a public political shift on the Taliban's position towards al-Qaida is more possible after Osama bin Laden's death. This may now turn out to be wishful thinking.