Top U.S. general cautiously optimistic about Afghan peace push

The top U.S. general said on Friday he was cautiously optimistic about efforts to reach a negotiated end to the nearly 18-year-old war in Afghanistan, in remarks that followed talks in Kabul with Afghanistan's president and the top U.S. negotiator.

"We're all cautiously optimistic, in the sense that Ambassador Khalilzad is now doing something we haven't seen in the entire time that we've been deployed to Afghanistan," said Marine General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, referring to Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. envoy negotiating with Taliban insurgents.

Dunford made the remarks to a small group of reporters in Baghdad after visiting Kabul on Wednesday and Thursday.