The United States has endorsed plans for the Taliban to open political headquarters in the Gulf state of Qatar by the end of the year, British newspaper The Times reported on Monday.
The move is designed to allow the West to begin formal peace talks with the Taliban, Western diplomats told the paper. The office of the self-styled Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan would be the first internationally recognised representation for the Taliban since it was ousted from power by the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. Western diplomats told The Times it was hoped that opening a Taliban office in Qatar would push forward the prospect of talks intended to reconcile insurgents with the Afghan government and bring an end to the decade-long war. Washington is believed to have insisted that the office be located “outside Pakistan’s sphere of influence”, the report said. “It will be an address where they have a political office,” one Western diplomatic source, who was not named, told The Times. “It will not be an embassy or a consulate but a residence where they can be treated like a political party.” The diplomat stressed that the Taliban would not be allowed to use the office in the Qatari capital, Doha, to raise funds. The Times reported that the Taliban were seeking assurances that their representatives would be free from the threat of harassment or arrest. Britain, which has the second largest contingent of troops in Afghanistan, declined to say whether it supported the creation of a Taliban office in Qatar. “This is a matter for the United States,” a Foreign Office spokeswoman said. The US ambassador to Kabul said last week that the Taliban must feel “more pain” from increased military pressure before progress can be made in peace talks. “The Taliban needs to feel more pain before you get to a real readiness to reconcile,” Ryan Crocker said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 13th, 2011.
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@R S JOHAR: We do not negotiate with the terrorists....... read my lips...........................Iraq had WMD.............
Before you judge the Taliban find someone 1st who has lived in Afghanistan when the Taliban ruled Afghanistan and they will tell you that the Taliban still rule Afghanistan, In fact nothing has changed other than the USA has spent many billions and got very little by way of result.
As far as stability is concerned the sooner the Taliban are back in official power later this or early next year the better, I lived in Afghanistan while the Country was under the rule of the Taliban and i am a white British subject, I was shown respect, I was allowed to travel freely throughout all areas while i was protected by the Taliban, above all else in case the negative minded people looking in from the outside forget, Afghanistan is a Muslim Country that has seen enough wars and little peace for many years.
If Afghanistan is going to find peace then assistance from the local tribel leaders in Afghanistan is required to work out the required stability that will effect the many millions of people living within Afghanistan who can only pray for a better way of life.
Jalalabad Rose.
Don't be surprised if west someday give legitimacy to the Taliban if that serves their interests. they have long history of supporting dictators and Islamists as long as they help western countries to suck all the world's resources and as long as they had few Muslims in their own countries. Western powers have been playing these dangerous games for long time; creation of Pakistan being one of them.
First of all Taliban are not going to accept it.. The first condition to peace talks is the complete and immediate withdrawal of all foreign troops from the country. So before they start talking about peace talks the west and her allies must withdraw from Afghanistan. Hello the taliban have boycotted their own elections and support for it in their own country due to the fact that all these efforts mean nothing to the Taliban if they are still being occupied by Invading colonialist America and her allies. The thing about the taliban is that non of the 911 planes were flown by them or their people not one citizen was involved in the attacks yet America still called for a crusade. The west is losing face in Afghanistan like the Soviets in the 80's and now they are using their most popular weapon (the media) to mislead the citizens of their countries into thinking that America is winning.. How can you be at war for over ten years and still claim that you want peace talks.? Its because the west is losing.. How about this.. Since non of the citizens of afghanistan was part of the 911 attacks and America launched a war against them isn't is fair to call for justice for all those innocent afghans killed by USA, NATO, and her allies in this unjust war.?
Better to bribe it away from prying eyes. Will only work short term. Taliban is already flush with cash thanks to payments to warlords. http://kabulpress.org/my/spip.php?article62526 Petraeus Fired Admiral Who Tried to Cut Taliban Funding REAR ADMIRAL KATHLEEN DUSSAULT TRIED TO STOP $400 MILLION DIVERSION PER YEAR TO THE TALIBAN It might want to continue the war as it keeps the treasure chest overflowing. It wont have such a rich cow to milk again!
buhahahhahahahahahahahahahaha for Pakistan and its loyalty to United States....
After the OBL episode, US no longer trusts Pakistan therefore it would like to strike a deal with Afghan Taleban, keeping Pakistan out of the loop. Since Afghan Taleban comprising of three groups are not ready to talk, US is trying to woo the major Haqqani group and even others to form a govt along with Karzai. While US would leave as per schedule, the civil war would continue in Afghanistan between the new govt and two splinter groups of Taleban.
Wow...... USA will never negotiate with terrorist http://www.newshounds.us/2006/01/19/theunitedstatesdoesntnegotiatewithterrorists.php
read the article ... Will in the future Taliban be an emerging international political party .. wow lol
If Pakistanies have Links with Talibans the they BLAME us
if they have Links then they are doing it for Peace
this shows how CIA /RAW funded TTP to destroy pakistan
Pakistan can't be too proud of the image they have created for themselves.
I am not surprised. Qatar, Saudi Arabia and UAE are practically a part of USA. America would have these countries throw some money to Pakistan to calm us down.
Maybe they were all foreign Indian funded Arab proxy warriors and they need an out . . . . .back to their homeland . . . .wah wah . . . After they are gone Pakistan should . . I repeat absolutely seal its borders with Afghanistan and I repeat with India otherwise they will get more training and funding by the Indians and show up sneaking through both Indian and Afghan borders into Pakistan thereby inviting more drone attacks!!!!. Great Indian Plan . . .Aay!
This article is just wrong. The US didnt want the Taliban to open any representative office to begin with. The Turkish PM offered Istanbul to host an office. The Taliban themselves did not want an office setup in Pakistan.
@Roflcopter: arnt you one of the people who believes that the Taliban are funded by RAW? Why would India need to put in a request then?
"The US ambassador to Kabul said last week that the Taliban must feel “more pain” from increased military pressure before progress can be made in peace talks."
Why do they think that they are the only one who can think and understand? They have actually felt the pain and that too quite hard.
@Tahir: they attack Pakistani Talibans and Afghan Taliban dont own TTP as their own. If this happens Pakistan will be effectively isolated in Afghan policy.....
Great news! Party getting over... no more of billions in aid..... I hope it happens soon.
What a joke....after bombarding Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan for 10 years, now they want peace talks..acceptance of US's failure
Hypocrites, still using drones to kill them while making offices for them.
So Pakistani influence is okay when they want to kill them and not okay when they want peacetalks which will ultimately bring peace to the most 'dangerous' country in the world. Friends
"Washington is believed to have insisted that the office be located “outside Pakistan’s sphere of influence”, the report said."
On the request of Indians.
"Washington is believed to have insisted that the office be located “outside Pakistan’s sphere of influence”, the report said."
Guys don't misunderstand what Washington meant was to locate the office in Karachi!
It seems US is too afraid of Pakistan's influence. Defeat in Afghanistan is US's fate, no matter Pakistan interferes or not.
"Out of Pakistani sphere of influence" they are already out of control and unleashing thunder attacks on Pakistan..... the world is round, what goes around comes back.
Mad !