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Weekend Edition Sunday host Rachel Martin speaks with Michael Semple about the prospects of peace talks with the Taliban.

Military planners for the U.S. Army have decided not to ship back more than $7 billion of equipment — about 20 percent of what the Army brought into Afghanistan. Much of the equipment is being dismantled and sold to the scrap market there — one of the largest military retrogrades in history.

U.S. officials promised to remove a nameplate and flag from the Taliban office in Qatar. But the Afghan government remained furious and committed to staying out of the talks.

The developments cast doubt on the newly announced peace talks between the insurgents and the U.S.

In announcing a new political office in Qatar, the Taliban said it supports a peace process in Afghanistan. U.S. officials said they welcomed the development.

It marks the first time the whole country has been under Afghan control since the coalition invaded to oust the Taliban in 2001.

By this time next year, there will be roughly half as many U.S. troops in Afghanistan as there are today. And for U.S. strategy in the country to work, Afghan security forces will have to hold off the Taliban after the Americans leave. But it's unclear if the Afghans will all stand together.

The gunman was wearing an Afghan military uniform and reportedly killed two U.S. soldiers and a civilian following an argument.

Army Sgt. Robert Bales pleaded guilty Wednesday to killing 16 Afghan civilians in a nighttime massacre. Audie Cornish talks with NPR's Martin Kaste, who listened to Sgt. Bales recount the killings at a military court hearing in Washington state. Bales has struck a deal with prosecutors that will spare him the death penalty.

Staff Sgt. Robert Bales pleaded guilty to 16 counts of premeditated murder. A judge has yet to accept his plea.