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                        <title>The Express Tribune</title>
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                        <description>The Express Tribune keeps you up to date with all the latest happenings from Pakistan and across the world!</description>
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			<title>Bilawal accuses govt of appeasing terrorists</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2316165/bilawal-accuses-govt-of-appeasing-terrorists</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2316165/bilawal-accuses-govt-of-appeasing-terrorists#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 18 Aug 21 05:18:27 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[Our Correspondent]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2316165</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[PPP chairman says parliament must be taken into confidence on Afghan situation]]>
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				<![CDATA[Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that the government must abandon the practice of appeasing terrorists and parliament should be taken into confidence over the ongoing situation in Afghanistan.

&ldquo;The government should not be in a hurry to take a stand on the changing situation in Afghanistan,&rdquo; Bilawal said while addressing a news conference at the Chief Minister House after a meeting of the PPP Central Executive Committee (CEC) on the current situation in Afghanistan and the political situation in Pakistan on Tuesday.

Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, Sherry Rehman, Raza Rabbani, Shazia Marri, Faisal Karim Kundi and Saeed Ghani were present.

The PPP chairman said he was concerned for the Afghan brothers and sisters, who have been facing decades of instability and violence with great courage and fortitude. Bilawal said he was concerned for all citizens of Afghanistan, especially women, youth and minority communities.

He urged that the citizens of Afghanistan should be allowed to observe the month of Muharram freely, and this was a litmus test for Afghanistan.

The PPP chairman said that he had been sounding a warning regarding the situation Pakistan could face.

&quot;Now, the government of Pakistan should not fall prey to any expediency on the issue of terrorism, rather it should implement the National Action Plan,&quot; he maintained.

He said that there are various terrorist groups that have targeted Pakistan&#39;s citizens and security forces, and a clear message must be sent to such groups that the government of Pakistan would not tolerate such activities in the country.

He said the fall of Kabul and Afghanistan had coincided with terrorism incidents in Dasu, Quetta and Karachi.

If the government does not continue to implement NAP, there is a danger that such incidents will increase. &quot;We should all hope for the best, but we should be prepared for any situation,&quot; the PPP chairman said.

Bilawal said that the security of CPEC projects should be reviewed and those working on them should be given full security.

He said that it was very important for the government of Pakistan to engage nationalist groups and reach out to them to find a peaceful solution and make them believe in a united Pakistan.

&ldquo;The only way forward is to find a peaceful solution and address the grievances of disillusioned youth across the country who are finding their identities in nationalist causes,&rdquo; he added.

He urged the government to engage honestly and then stick to its promises. Bilawal that it is an immediate and preliminary response of the PPP to the current situation and over time its policies would evolve in line with the emerging situation.

He demanded of the government to take parliament into confidence on the situation in Afghanistan and follow the procedure of the Senate resolution in formulating a better foreign policy.

&ldquo;Everyone is watching the situation in Afghanistan closely and encouraging it to negotiate a representative system that includes all communities. We can&rsquo;t rely on just fencing the border in Pakistan.

If the law and order situation in Afghanistan improves, we will not see the influx of refugees, but if that doesn&#39;t happen, we will see a mass exodus from Afghanistan into Pakistan,&quot; he said. Bilawal said that there was no doubt that Pakistan&#39;s policy should be clear that the people of Pakistan would not tolerate terrorism under any circumstances.

He said that the prime minister has taken a stand on every issue and then he has been taking U-turns which creates confusion and we cannot afford such incompetence at the moment.

&ldquo;We need a clear policy, political consensus, and political will at this time. If there is no explanation from the government, the country will be mired in confusion,&rdquo; he added.]]>
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			<title>Changing the narrative through bloodshed</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1010671/changing-the-narrative-through-bloodshed</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1010671/changing-the-narrative-through-bloodshed#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 16 Dec 15 06:55:57 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[our.correspondent]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[K-P]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=1010671</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[An informal survey assesses support for anti-state rhetoric]]>
			</description>
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				<![CDATA[There was a time when negotiating with militants was an option being mulled by the government and military. The APS carnage removed that option from the table and was seen as a watershed moment which would redefine mindsets against anti-state ideology and unite everyone against a common enemy.

In an informal survey carried out in 16 districts, people were chosen at random from a variety of fields—from street vendors to businessmen—and asked their views on supporting militants, the Taliban in particular, after the massacre of schoolchildren.

They were asked if they supported the Taliban or their extremist ideology after the Army Public School attack on December 16, 2014.

These are the results from the districts which participated:




&nbsp;

Participants who answered in

long-form

Malik Mumtaz, 45

who is an Awami National Party worker in Charsadda, said those who supported the Taliban still support them and those who were against still stand by their stance

Khaisa Rehman, 50

who is also an ANP worker in Charsadda, said little has changed in the mind-sets after the attack

Shahana

a 45-year-old teacher in Lakki Marwat, was of the view that those who attacked the school were not part of the Taliban

Published in The Express Tribune, December 16th,  2015.]]>
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			<title>Pakistan giving Taliban leadership to Haqqani network, claims India’s ambassador to Kabul</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1004377/pakistan-giving-taliban-leadership-to-haqqani-network-claims-indias-ambassador-to-kabul</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1004377/pakistan-giving-taliban-leadership-to-haqqani-network-claims-indias-ambassador-to-kabul#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 05 Dec 15 13:04:24 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[web.desk]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=1004377</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Amar Sinha says India should intervene as Pakistan is 'trying to convince Afghanistan to come along to a bad deal']]>
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				<![CDATA[Indian Ambassador to Kabul Amar Sinha has urged India to intervene in Taliban peace talks, claiming Pakistan is giving the group’s leadership to the Haqqani network.

Rivalries within the militant group are intense given the recent attack on Mullah Akhtar Mansoor in Quetta, Sinha said while speaking to The Hindu.

"India should intervene as Pakistan seems to be negotiating with only one faction of Taliban apart from giving leadership space to the Haqqani network, which is on the verge of getting international recognition as the de facto Taliban, due to Pakistan’s initiative," the paper further said quoting the ambassador.

Nawaz, Ghani agree to take ‘legitimate’ stakeholders onboard

Sinha warned that under the present arrangement with the Taliban, the Haqqani Network will be party to the talks. “How will the Haqqani network play a key role in future without being stricken off the terror list of various countries?” he questioned.

The consequence of Pakistan’s peace negotiation with the Taliban, he said, will be that the international community will be presented with a “fait accompli” of dealing with the Haqqani network as the legitimate Taliban leadership.

“Pakistan is trying to convince Afghanistan to come along to a bad deal with Taliban,” he alleged.

The Indian ambassador said that Afghans perceive India as a shining part of South Asia and they expect India to speak forcefully on issues of regional interest. “The Heart of Asia conference of December 7 provides a new opportunity to bring peace to Afghanistan and should be given a chance as it promises an Afghan-led peace process,” he maintained.

Souring ties : Pak-Afghan trade deals stall on India

Sinha’s statement came following ‘misreporting’ regarding his statement on a meeting between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in Paris this week.

The Indian ambassador to Kabul clarified that the Pakistani media and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reacted without perusing the entire text of what he had said. “Meeting of heads of governments in Paris is a positive thing. I stated that the statement of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in Paris is positive and we will see reduction in violence if we stay on a track built by consultation,” he upheld.

Further, he said Afghanistan’s cooperation with Pakistan under the present set of circumstances will mean Kabul is allowing Islamabad to determine the Taliban leadership which should not happen as Afghanistan's peace will have to be determined by the Afghans themselves.

Afghan chief executive casts doubt on Pakistan’s role in peace process

“Indian media should question the charade of Mullah Omar’s death, the quick coronation of Mullah Akhtar Mansour and the hurried attempt to start talks with Taliban even before the issue of Taliban’s leadership is resolved” Sinha told The Hindu.

The peace process was called off by the Taliban in July this year following disclosure that their longtime elusive supreme leader Mullah Omar had died over two years ago. The confirmation came barely days before Afghan government officials and Taliban representatives were to hold a second round of talks. The first rare face-to-face meeting between the two sides was held in Pakistan’s popular tourist resort of Murree in the first week of July.

This article originally appeared on The Hindu.]]>
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			<title>West should have talked to Taliban: British general</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/570039/west-should-have-talked-to-taliban-british-general</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/570039/west-should-have-talked-to-taliban-british-general#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 29 Jun 13 07:59:51 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[afp]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=570039</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[General Nick Carter says an opportunity to bring peace was missed when Taliban were on the defensive in 2002.]]>
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				<![CDATA[The West should have negotiated with the Taliban more than a decade ago, soon after they were toppled, Britain's senior general in Afghanistan said on Saturday after recent efforts to start peace talks collapsed in ignominy.

General Nick Carter told the London-based Guardian newspaper that an opportunity to bring peace to Afghanistan was missed when the Taliban were on the defensive in 2002 after they were ousted following the 9/11 attacks.

"The Taliban were on the run," he said. "At that stage, if we had been very prescient, we might have spotted that a final political solution... would have involved getting all Afghans to sit at the table and talk about their future."

Carter, deputy commander of the Nato-led coalition, acknowledged it was "easy to be wise with the benefit of hindsight" but that Afghanistan's problems were political issues that "are only ever solved by people talking to each other".

The search for a peace settlement with the Taliban is now a priority for the Afghan government and international powers as the insurgency still rages across many parts of the country and US-led troops prepare to exit next year.

A Taliban office in Qatar that opened on June 18 was meant to foster talks but instead triggered a diplomatic bust-up when the insurgents used the title of the "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan" from their 1996-2001 reign.

President Hamid Karzai, furious that the office was being styled as an embassy for a government-in-exile, broke off separate security talks with the Americans and threatened to boycott any peace process altogether.

US President Barack Obama recently said he anticipated "a lot of bumps in the road" during the peace process but that it was the only way to end the violence in Afghanistan.

More than 3,300 coalition personnel have been killed in Afghanistan since 2001, peaking at 711 deaths in 2010, according to the independent icasualties.org website.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said at the G8 summit 10 days ago that the 12-year military effort in Afghanistan, where Britain still has around 7,900 troops, had to be matched by a "political process".

"That is exactly what I hope can happen with elements of the Taliban," he said.

Only hours after the Qatar office opened, a Taliban rocket attack killed four Americans on the largest military base in Afghanistan. Just days later, a suicide squad targeted the presidential palace and a CIA office, in the most audacious assault in Kabul in years.

The capital's airport, its Supreme Court and an international aid group's compound have also been attacked in recent weeks by heavily-armed Taliban suicide bombers.

"First of all, people like to negotiate from a position of strength, and secondly I think the opponents of Afghanistan would like to appear to compel the international community's withdrawal," Carter said.

"I don't think it's surprising that we are seeing spectacular attacks in Kabul and a continuance of attacks elsewhere."

As Nato troops pull back, Afghan soldiers and police are taking over the fight against the Taliban, who were deposed in 2001 for sheltering al Qaeda leaders behind the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington.

Carter said that Afghan forces had proven themselves in battle and were ready to provide security after 100,000 Nato troops depart by the end of 2014.

"What the opponents of the Afghan government now realise is they are likely to be up against capable Afghan security forces who are going to be here in perpetuity," he said.

"I think that there is every chance people will realise that talking is the answer to this problem."

Peace talks with the Taliban were previously anathema to many Western leaders, with then British Prime Minister Gordon Brown vowing in 2007 that London "will not enter into any negotiations with these people".]]>
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			<title>Afghan peace process: Pakistan fears breakdown of Doha initiative</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/568461/afghan-peace-process-pakistan-fears-breakdown-of-doha-initiative</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/568461/afghan-peace-process-pakistan-fears-breakdown-of-doha-initiative#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 25 Jun 13 21:29:31 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[our.correspondent]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category><category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=568461</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[US envoy acknowledges Islamabad’s role in Afghan peace; PM assures ‘full support’.]]>
			</description>
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				<![CDATA[As the Doha peace process stumbled into early roadblocks this week, Pakistan expressed fears that the initiative might break down due to the ‘contradictory approach’ of Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s administration. This comes as US President Barack Obama’s pointman for the region travelled to Islamabad on Tuesday in a desperate bid to break the deadlock in the fledgling peace process.


James Dobbins, US special representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan, met Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif amidst uncertainty about the fate of the recently-inaugurated Taliban ‘political office’ in the Qatari capital to find a negotiated settlement of the 12-year old conflict in Afghanistan.



Premier Nawaz was accompanied by his aide on national security and foreign affairs Sartaj Aziz and army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.

Dobbins briefed the prime minister about the developments relating to the opening of the Taliban office in Doha, according to an official statement.

Dobbins flew into Islamabad from Kabul where he attempted to address President Karzai’s concerns over the nature of the Doha office.

He acknowledged Pakistan’s key role in the Afghan reconciliation process. Although Pakistan does not have a  ‘controlling influence’ over the Taliban, it has more influence on the ultraconservative militia than any other country.

Premier Nawaz told Ambassador Dobbins that Pakistan had the highest stakes in the return of peace and stability to Afghanistan. He assured him of Pakistan’s full commitment to an ‘Afghan-led and Afghan-owned’ peace process and highlighted various steps Islamabad has taken in this regard, said the statement.

The prime minister also pointed out that the situation in Afghanistan had reached a crucial phase and this called for Pakistan and the United States to remain closely engaged.

Following talks with the US envoy, Nawaz also telephoned President Karzai to assure him of Pakistan’s support in the Afghan peace process.

Ambassador Dobbins told reporters after the meeting that President Karzai was ready for talks but the onus was now on the Taliban. “The Afghan Taliban tried to stage a propaganda coup,” Dobbins said referring to the hoisting of the flag of the ‘Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’ atop the building where the Taliban set up their ‘political office’ in Doha last week.

The Karzai administration reacted angrily to the move and said that the Taliban were trying to portray themselves as a government-in-exile through the Qatar office. Karzai said the Afghan High Peace Council, the government-sponsored body set up to make peace with the Taliban, would not take part in the Doha initiative unless the process was ‘Afghan-led’.

However, in a background briefing, a senior official at Pakistan’s foreign ministry told a group of journalists that it was very difficult to conclude at this stage whether the Qatar process would achieve any success. “We want the process to be successful but given Karazi’s position the dialogue process may collapse,” cautioned the official.

He went on to say that it appeared that President Karzai neither wanted the Doha initiative nor next year’s Afghan presidential elections to succeed. The assessment of top Pakistani foreign policymaker appears to suggest the Doha process may not take off anytime soon.

TTP supports Doha talks

In a related development, the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the outlawed conglomerate of militant groups blamed for most violence in the country, welcomed the Doha initiative.

In a video message, the group’s spokesperson Ehsanullah Ahsan said on Tuesday that the TTP was a wing of the Afghan Taliban and “they are subordinate of Ameer-ul-Momineen Mullah Omar and obey his orders.”

Published in The Express Tribune, June 26th, 2013.]]>
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			<title>Doha diplomacy: Qatari official mediating between Taliban, US</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/567983/doha-diplomacy-qatari-official-mediating-between-taliban-us</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/567983/doha-diplomacy-qatari-official-mediating-between-taliban-us#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 25 Jun 13 04:27:17 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[tahir.khan]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=567983</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Sources say Karzai administration has agreed to send High Peace Council delegation for talks with Taliban.]]>
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				<![CDATA[The Afghan Taliban say that they are in contact with the United States through senior Qatari officials and some progress has been made towards initiating a dialogue process.


“A Qatari official is mediating talks between the two sides,” the Taliban official told The Express Tribune by phone from Doha on Monday. The Taliban official, who requested anonymity, identified the Qatari mediator as Waleed.

Qatar is also working as a bridge between the Taliban and the administration of Afghan President Hamid Karzai as the ultraconservative militia is unwilling to hold direct talks with Afghan authorities.



The Qatar dialogue process could not kick off as the Karzai administration has accused the US of adopting a contradictory approach towards the peace process.

“Some progress is expected during the Kabul visit of US Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan James Dobbins,” an Islamabad-based Afghan source said.

“Ambassador Dobbins, who arrived in Kabul on Monday from Qatar, will call on President Hamid Karzai and other senior Afghan officials to discuss bilateral and regional issues, including the reconciliation process which President Obama and President Karzai agreed, is the surest way to a lasting peace and a unified, stable and secure Afghanistan,” said a statement issued in Kabul.



Ahead of his Kabul visit, Dobbins met with Qatari officials to discuss the Afghan peace process.

An Afghan government-backed peace council delegation is likely to fly to Qatar in the coming days as the US has removed the reservations of the Afghan government, a member of the council said.

Attaullah Ludin, a senior member of the High Peace Council, told the media in Kabul that the council was in the process of finalising a delegation for Qatar visit.

Afghan Foreign Ministry spokesman Janan Musazai said the US gave written assurances to the Afghan government that the Taliban’s Doha office would be a platform for negotiations between the High Peace Council and Taliban representatives.

The Taliban spokesman in Qatar, Suhail Shaheen, on Monday denied reports that the Taliban negotiators in Doha had agreed to lower the Taliban flag and remove the name of the Islamic Emirate from their office.

He also denied the Associated Press (AP) report that the Taliban had agreed to discuss the presence of some American troops in Afghanistan, according to a statement issued by the group’s spokesman in Afghanistan, Zabihullah Mujahid.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 25th, 2013.]]>
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			<title>Taliban reject claims they may cancel Qatar talks</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/567256/taliban-reject-claims-they-may-cancel-qatar-talks</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/567256/taliban-reject-claims-they-may-cancel-qatar-talks#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 23 Jun 13 10:29:37 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[afp]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=567256</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[The opening of the Qatar office was intended as a first step towards a peace deal.]]>
			</description>
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				<![CDATA[The Taliban on Sunday rejected reports that they may cancel peace talks with the US and the Afghan governments over criticism of the insurgents' office that opened in Qatar last week.

A Taliban spokesman in Afghanistan rejected a New York Times story published on Saturday that quoted an unnamed rebel official saying the insurgents were determined to keep the office's sign and flag that triggered fury in Kabul.

The sign used the formal name of "Islamic Emirate Of Afghanistan" from the rebels' 1996-2001 government, and the white Taliban flag was seen by many Afghans as a provocative reminder of the cruelties of Taliban rule.

The opening of the Qatar office was intended as a first step towards a peace deal as the US-led Nato combat mission ends next year, but the Afghan government accused the rebels of posing as a government-in-exile.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on Sunday that the anonymous "Taliban official" quoted in the New York Times did not represent the movement's views.

"(The Taliban) has its own spokespersons who provides information to the media," Mujahid said in a statement. "Anyone except these spokespersons giving information, it would not be (information) from the Islamic Emirate.

"The enemy for long time have given statements in their interests citing unknown persons (as Taliban spokespersons), an example of which is an interview published on the New York Times."

US Secretary of State John Kerry, on a visit to Qatar on Saturday, warned that Washington could call on the Taliban to close the office if the rebels failed to live up to their side of peace efforts.

"It is our hope that this could ultimately be an important step in reconciliation if it's possible. We know that it may well not be possible," Kerry told reporters in Doha.

If the Taliban do not address concerns, "We may have to consider whether or not the office has to be closed."

President Barack Obama has supported dialogue with the Taliban as the US prepares to pull out its 68,000 combat troops from Afghanistan next year, ending the longest US war which has become increasingly unpopular at home.

The Taliban ruled Afghanistan from 1996-2001, imposing harsh laws that banned television, music and cinema, stopped girls from going to school and forced woman to wear the all-covering burqa.

They were ousted in 2001 for sheltering the al Qaeda militants behind the 9/11 attacks, but launched a resilient and bloody insurgency against US-led Nato troops and the US-backed Afghan government.

Talk of a meeting between US and Taliban officials in Qatar has been put on hold, and the US has stressed the office must not be treated as an embassy and must be used only for peace talks.]]>
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			<title>Qatar peace process: Govt sidesteps Afghan plea for prisoners release</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/567150/qatar-peace-process-govt-sidesteps-afghan-plea-for-prisoners-release</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/567150/qatar-peace-process-govt-sidesteps-afghan-plea-for-prisoners-release#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 23 Jun 13 04:56:42 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[sumera.khan]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=567150</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Says it will consider each step necessary that helps advance Doha talks.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Pakistan on Saturday refused to be drawn into a debate reignited by Afghan leaders that dozens of other Taliban prisoners should be freed in the interest of the reconciliation process, saying that Islamabad was already committed to facilitating the Doha peace talks.


“We will remain positive and will consider each step necessary that helps to advance the reconciliation process taking place in Doha,” said Foreign Office spokesman Aizaz Chaudhry, declining a specific comment over Taliban prisoners’ release issue said Saturday.

He further said that the Afghan government’s reasons for not taking part in the reconciliation process are best known to Afghan President Hamid Karzai, “we cannot comment over it.”

Kabul should not issue such statements at this point of time when a stalemate in peace talks between US officials and Taliban representatives in Doha is over after hectic efforts, he said.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Chaudhry went on to say that instead of replying to these statements Pakistan would extend its full support to an inclusive intra Afghan dialogue among all segments of society for the peace and security of Afghanistan.



Chaudhry made these comments in response to the statement from the Afghan foreign ministry.

The US wanted to resume the negotiations at the earliest to help finalise its strategy for the 2014 troop pullout from Afghanistan but Karzai was not showing up and now when Pakistan had announced it would support the peace efforts, he is trying to sabotage the talks, a senior Pakistani official claimed.

But this is not going to help him as the US is aware that Taliban show no interest in negotiating with the Karzai establishment,

Pakistan had earlier released 25 Taliban prisoners on Kabul’s request to initiate the Afghan reconciliation process, even then Karzai was blaming Pakistan for releasing the prisoners without consulting him directly and now once again he was raising the same issue, sources added.

There has been no progress in the peace negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban because the later believes that there is no use of talks with the administration of President Hamid Karzai which is actually being run by the US.

The official said that despite the harsh tone used by Afghan civil-military officials after recent border skirmishes between the two countries over the construction of a border gate in Mohmand Agency by Islamabad, Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani had assured US officials that Pakistan would take every possible step to help restore peace in Afghanistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 23rd, 2013.]]>
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			<title>Mullah Omar to name high-level team for formal US talks</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/565953/mullah-omar-to-name-high-level-team-for-formal-us-talks</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/565953/mullah-omar-to-name-high-level-team-for-formal-us-talks#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 20 Jun 13 14:47:49 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[tahir.khan]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
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			<description>
				<![CDATA[The Taliban spokesperson evaded the question about revealing the exact timing of the talks.]]>
			</description>
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				<![CDATA[Taliban supreme leader, Mullah Muhmmad Omar, will appoint a high-level team for formal talks with the United States following progress in the ‘exploratory talks’ with American officials in Qatar, a Taliban spokesperson said on Thursday.

Suhail Shaheen, Taliban spokesperson for the Qatar political office, told The Express Tribune via telephone from Doha, that the present Taliban team in the Gulf state will hold preliminary talks with the Americans and key issues will be discussed later in formal dialogue.

Taliban sources say that nearly 30 Taliban representatives, including six members of the top leadership, are currently in Qatar. They include head of the team Syed Tayeb Agha, Qari Din Muhammad Hanif, Haji Muhammad Zahid  Ahmadzai, Maulvi Nek Muhammad and Sher Muhammad Stankazi

Shaheen said the Taliban will first hold talks with the US as it is the major party to the conflict. Contentious issues such as Taliban prisoners in US custody will be discussed.

Shaheen said they will insist on the release of their prisoners in Guantanamo and other US prisons as the release of Taliban prisoners will be a big confidence-building measure for the talks. “We will ask for the immediate release of our prisoners. The Taliban are willing to discuss exchange of the lone US soldier in Taliban custody for the release of the Taliban detainees,” Shaheen said.

The Taliban had captured US Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl in 2009.

Deadlock over the prisoners was believed to be one of the reasons that led to breakdown of talks between the US and Taliban in Qatar in March last year.

Asked when the Taliban will talk to the Karzai-backed peace council, Shaheen said, “Time is not ripe for such talks and talks with the Afghan side will come later,” he said.

He added that negotiations were not scheduled on Thursday, contradicting earlier media reports.  “American officials have not contacted us for the Thursday talks,” he said.

Asked when the preliminary talks could start, he did not give any exact timing but said they could take place on Friday, the day after or within a week.

Shaheen further said a ceasefire will not be possible because if the foreign forces attack the Taliban in Afghanistan, adding the Taliban will fight back. “It is not an easy issue to resolve in the first meeting,” said Shaheen, who had previously served as a diplomat when Afghanistan was in Taliban control.]]>
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			<title>Words before weapons: K-P announces APC to strategise Taliban talks</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/565819/words-before-weapons-k-p-announces-apc-to-strategise-taliban-talks</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/565819/words-before-weapons-k-p-announces-apc-to-strategise-taliban-talks#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 20 Jun 13 05:37:49 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[noorwali.shah]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category><category><![CDATA[K-P]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=565819</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[&quot;If the US has started negotiations with the Afghan Taliban in Qatar, then we should also start talks.&quot;]]>
			</description>
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				<![CDATA[The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf led Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government announced on Wednesday the convening of an All Parties Conference in Peshawar in the coming days to chalk out a strategy to begin peace talks with the Pakistani Taliban.

The announcement comes a day after a suicide attack in Mardan that killed 35 people, including provincial MPA Imran Khan Mohmand, and injuring over 60 people.

Speaking to reporters at Lady Reading Hospital, PTI Deputy Parliamentary Leader in K-P and provincial Health and Information Minister, Shaukat Yousafzai, reiterated that the war on terror was not Pakistan’s war and dialogue, rather than force, was the key to lasting peace in the region.

“If the United States has started negotiations with the Afghan Taliban in Qatar, despite the former fighting the latter for the last 12 years, and recognised that talks are the only solution, then we should also start talks to bring peace in our region,” Yousafzai said.

The health minister added that the KP government would convene the APC in the coming days and political parties, members of civil society, intellectuals and professors will be invited to chalk out a comprehensive strategy.

“When we agree on a one point agenda during our upcoming provincial APC, then a jirga will meet the federal government to inform them about our grievances and demands. The federal government needs to come into the front because PML-N has also promised restoration of peace during electioneering,” said the PTI leader.

He stated that before the general elections, the PTI had planned to review Pakistan’s foreign policy and the American drone programme if it came into power at the Centre. But since the party could only win in KP, it was now the PML-N government’s jurisdiction to take practical steps to stop the violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 20th, 2013.]]>
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			<title>Ceasefire may be on agenda, say Taliban</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/565817/ceasefire-may-be-on-agenda-say-taliban</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/565817/ceasefire-may-be-on-agenda-say-taliban#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 20 Jun 13 05:35:14 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[tahir.khan]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=565817</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Taliban political office head says Afghan authorities have not approached them yet for negotiations.]]>
			</description>
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				<![CDATA[A top Afghan Taliban negotiator has said that a ceasefire may be on the agenda during talks with the United States at the Qatari capital of Doha.

In his first interview with any Pakistani media outlet, Dr Muhammad Naeem – who heads the Taliban political office – indicated a major shift in the ultra conservative militia’s policy by hinting at possible talks with the government backed Afghan peace council.

“Our Qatar office is a second home for Afghans and we will listen to every Afghan. Every Afghan will be welcomed in our office,” Dr Naeem told The Express Tribune when asked if the Taliban were willing to negotiate with the Afghan High Peace Council. He, however, said Afghan authorities have not yet approached their office.

Asked whether the Taliban would announce a ceasefire with the beginning of talks, he said the negotiations would then be at an initial stage and such issues could be discussed later. “Ceasefire could be discussed during the talks,” Dr Naeem said.

“We will present our proposals in the first meeting and will listen to what the Americans have to say,” the Taliban negotiator said in response to a question about the agenda of their first meeting with US officials.

He sought to quash the impression that Pakistan has an influence on the Afghan Taliban. “We are completely independent in taking decisions and are not under the influence of any country,” Dr Naeem said.

However, he added that the Taliban wanted good relations with all neighbouring countries. The Taliban had pulled out of talks with the US early last year, accusing Washington of reneging on its promises.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 20th, 2013.]]>
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			<title>Afghan revelations: Pakistan-US secret diplomacy created Doha roadmap</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/565809/afghan-revelations-pakistan-us-secret-diplomacy-created-doha-roadmap</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/565809/afghan-revelations-pakistan-us-secret-diplomacy-created-doha-roadmap#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 20 Jun 13 05:28:46 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[syed.talat.hussain]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=565809</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Direct contact between Kerry and Kayani instrumental in breakthrough; Haqqanis no longer on the target list.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Months-long painstaking and secret negotiations involving Islamabad and Washington have yielded a detailed roadmap for steering negotiations with the Afghan Taliban which will start to unfold with the release of five Afghan prisoners from Guantanamo Bay and the return of the captured US soldier PFC Bowe Bergdahl, at present in Taliban custody.

While the opening of the Taliban office in Doha, Qatar, has captured headlines across the world, wide-ranging interviews with highly-placed diplomatic, military and foreign office sources reveal that this office is but one of the many elements of a complex process, the ultimate aim of which is for all stakeholders in Afghanistan to share power through an inclusive election process under a possibly modified Afghanistan constitution.

“The journey begins now and if all goes well should co-terminate with the exit of the American combat troops and holding of elections in Afghanistan that brings everyone onboard,” says a diplomatic source who has been involved in this process.

Other elements of this process are complete reconciliation with the Taliban led by Mullah Mohammed Omar, multiple-level dialogue between the Taliban and non- Pashtoon groups, agreement on the constitutional framework to govern Afghanistan after safe and trouble-free exit of the US forces from the Afghan soil, gradual cessation of kinetic operations and crucially, dispensing with Hamid Karzai in the political sense in case he tries to subvert peace efforts.

There is little doubt in anyone’s mind that this road is slippery and with no guaranteed success. However, a near-complete and rare alignment of views between the US administration and Pakistan’s policymakers achieved through a robust and out-of-media-glare talks has created space for ‘pulling this one off’, says the source. “There has been some direct dialing between Pakistan and John Kerry, the US secretary of state, working under clear guidelines from president Obama,” says one of Pakistan’s top negotiators.

This direct dialing sometimes bypassed the US embassy in Islamabad while Pakistan’s mission in Washington too stayed pretty much on the margins of what was transpiring between the two capitals.

The main issues that the two sides have had to grapple with all centered around the Taliban’s core leadership led by Mullah Omar.

“The Americans had three solutions for the Taliban problem. First, the Alpha solution, was to beat them into submission and retard their capacity to fight permanently. This failed. The Bravo solution was to fight them hard through a troop surge and force them to accept Afghanistan’s new realities like the presentday Afghan constitution and the leadership of president Karzai. That too did not work. The third, the Charlie solution, was more of a compulsion. Accept Taliban as a legitimate power in Afghanistan, talk to them, accommodate their main demands even it meant abandoning assets like Karzai. I think you are looking at the Charlie solution being played out,” says a military official.

The clearest indication of this radical shift in the US outlook towards the Taliban is in their acceptance that the onceroundly condemned Haqqani Network is essential to peace and deserves to be on the table in Doha. The Haqqanis, who dominate Afghanistan’s troubled and violence-infested eastern provinces, have been Washington hard-liners’ favourite punching bag and recipient of most of the military operations conducted by Isaf and Nato led by the US. Declared as international terrorists their leaders have also been the focus of drone attacks inside Pakistan besides being at the centre of the US accusations of Pakistan being a sanctuary and a safe haven for forces killing American soldiers in Afghanistan.

“The Haqqanis are no longer the bull’s eye of US military operations. They are no longer in the ‘kill or capture and be rewarded’ category. They are part and parcel of the team that would represent Mullah Omar with which Washington is deeply engaged,” says another source at the foreign office.

This ‘deep engagement’ is trilateral and would not have come about without Washington getting exhausted with its stand-alone efforts to cultivate the Taliban minus Islamabad. Pakistani officials say that Washington tried several dialogue processes, in many capitals of the world, some even with low-ranking members of the Haqqani Network, but each time they hit a dead end. No faction could move ahead without the sanction of the Taliban top leadership.

As the costs of war in Afghanistan mounted, and the withdrawal deadline neared, the Obama administration found itself in a bind that could only be circumvented if Mullah Omar agreed to be part of the dialogue.

“The hardliners among the Taliban ranks did not want to give any space to US forces. They had realised that by stalemating international forces they had actually won militarily. They would not concede an inch of diplomatic space to the US who, in their perception, had lost out in the battlefield,” explained a high-ranking foreign office official involved in talking to the Taliban.

“It was then Pakistan’s turn to use its influence even though everyone in Washington had deep doubts about the Taliban showing flexibility. Our pitch to the Taliban was that by becoming part of the dialogue process they could gain international sanction, end conflict peacefully and achieve their goals of foreign forces exiting their country much more swiftly than through perpetual conflict that offered total victory to nobody.

“We also had to argue long and hard with Washington to change the sequence of its demands and instead of asking for the Taliban to straightway accept the Afghan constitution and abjure violence let confidence-building measures take place that would start the process of reconciliation,” says the foreign office official. The same sources also said that the real breakthrough in these negotiations came through personal diplomacy between John Kerry and Pakistan’s Army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.

“With the election fever gripping the country the (outgoing) government in Pakistan had lost all interest in even looking at the notes of some of these important meetings much less taking active interest in spearheading the country’s role in this regard. Kerry-Kayani duo was the centerpiece of this heightened diplomacy. The two had an excellent equation even before Kerry became the secretary of state. Now they talk more frequently than anyone in the press gets to report on,” said the foreign office source.

What transpires in these frequent calls is anybody’s guess, but this interaction did yield a crucial breakthrough a few weeks ago when the Taliban shared a draft of their statement with Washington which was seen and appreciated by everyone at the State Department and the White House.

“The Taliban in that statement had shown an unequivocal commitment to peace and the constitutional process achieved through dialogue besides reiterating the stance that they would not let their soil be used for attacking the US. The same statement also included a critical element of the Taliban distancing themselves from al Qaeda,” says a diplomatic source who worked closely with Pakistan’s embassy in Kabul and claims to have seen several drafts of that letter. This statement was to be followed by statements of approval from Qatar, Pakistan and of course Washington, joined in by other western powers.

“This was much more than Washington was hoping to get out of the Taliban. Frankly, the situation that the US was in, they could have simply settled for the Taliban becoming part of the electoral process,” said a foreign office source. Washington’s glee was reflected in a string of congratulatory calls and messages senior diplomatic and military officers started to receive upon getting the final draft of the Taliban statement.

“This showed what a big deal it was for them (in Washington),” said the same source.

Prior to this engagement with Washington Pakistan also facilitated a quiet and effective dialogue process between the non-Pashtoon forces (the Northern Alliance) and the Taliban in which the two sides at a senior level agreed to bury the hatchet and work jointly for stabilising Afghanistan.

“This was a big breakthrough because this made our peace efforts truly all-inclusive and curtailed the voices of discord and divisiveness that could have raised questions about our motives”, said a senior military source.

One such voice was and continues to be that of Afghanistan’s maverick president Hamid Karzai, who according to Pakistani officials, tried his level best to somehow prevent a direct interface between the Americans and the Taliban and create an impression that he and not Islamabad holds the key to the Afghan endgame.

“Even in opening the office of the Taliban in Doha his concern was that this should be done through his offices in Kabul, an effort that had no takers from any other quarter and therefore fell flat,” says a senior foreign office official.

Karzai’s increasing isolation was proven yet again when Washington, his main backer, stopped counting on him and accepted direct dialogue with the Taliban as the mainstay of their diplomatic push in Afghanistan. This fulfilled a major demand of the Taliban leadership that does not recognise the government in Kabul and wants to have no truck with Karzai.

The beleaguered Afghan president got squeezed on the other fronts as well. As non- Pasthoons began to open up to the Taliban even the High Peace Council, headed distanced itself from the daily barrage of Karzai’s brutal criticism of Pakistan.

A diplomatic source shared with this scribe some contents of recent meetings between Pakistani officials and members of the High Peace Council which clearly indicate a gaping chasm between them and Karzai. He is variously described as ‘unstable’, ‘a threat to Afghan peace’ and even as a ‘poisonous roadblock’.

Unfortunately for Karzai Washington increasingly finds itself in agreement with these assessments, some of which echo those done by senior US officials themselves of the man. That is why when day before yesterday the Afghanistan president raised hell over the Taliban’s office in Doha styling itself as a mission of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, Washington calmed him down and itself downplayed this characterisation to dilute his accusation that the Taliban were ‘rogues only he could handle’, said a foreign diplomat.

However, the Afghan president’s retribution has been swift. His suspension of talks with the United States on a new security deal, to protest the way his government was being left out of initial peace negotiations with the Taliban, is his most vocal statement of anger of so far.

“In view of the contradiction between acts and the statements made by the United States of America in regard to the peace process, the Afghan government suspended the negotiations, currently under way in Kabul between Afghan and US delegations on the bilateral security agreement,” Karzai’s statement said.

But that might backfire because Washington is about the only international player willing to put up with Karzai. Pakistan has not pulled any punches against Karzai. Islamabad’s military negotiators have curtly told Washington that they “can either save their man (Karzai) or Afghan peace”. Pakistan has shared volumes of evidence with Washington of the Afghan president’s deliberate encouragement of forces operating against Pakistan from across the border including, more recently, the directions that came for Kandahar for the attackers of the Quaid’s residency in Ziarat. “We do not rule out the possibility of Kabul-sponsored elements making a last-ditch effort to inflict damage on Pakistan with the approval of President Karzai, whose recent conduct borders on strange behaviour, to say the least,” says a senior government official posted in Balochistan.

Pakistan’s more subtle message to Washington about its aversion to Karzai has been just as firm. Last week’s trilateral meeting involving Afghan and Isaf commanders was supposed to take place in Afghanistan. Pakistan insisted that it should be relocated to Pakistan because Gen Kayani did not want to go to Afghanistan and pay even a courtesy call on Karzai.

“We have left Karzai’s handling to the Americans. He is their man. They invested in him. They should tackle him. We are not pulling any stops for him,” said a high-ranking foreign office source.

The newly-elected prime minister, Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, who is now in charge of the country’s foreign and defence policies, got an early indication of how complex the Afghanistan peace process has become and how central is the role that the country he leads is playing in taking it forward. He dropped the idea of visiting Kabul any time soon immediately after this proposal was floated in the media. Since then he has been holding regular meetings with the army chief in the presence of Sartaj Aziz, special advisor on national security and foreign affairs, and key members of his core team including Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif.

“Most of these meetings have been about the big events happening around us including the Afghan peace process,” said a federal cabinet minister.

The prime minister’s briefings on Afghanistan have been detailed and a full extent of the background has been given to him. According to foreign office sources the prime minister is ‘fully clued up’ and on the day of the opening of the Doha office he was informed of all the developments on practically ‘minute-to-minute basis’. Pakistan Muslim League sources confirm that the first visitor to call on premier Sharif after he was sworn in was General Kayani and the major portion of this meet-up was ‘developments in Afghanistan’.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 20th, 2013.]]>
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			<title>Afghans say US assures Taliban office is not recognition</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/565622/afghans-say-us-assures-taliban-office-is-not-recognition</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/565622/afghans-say-us-assures-taliban-office-is-not-recognition#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 19 Jun 13 18:59:50 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[afp]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=565622</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[US state department denies that any talks have been scheduled.]]>
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				<![CDATA[The United States has given Afghanistan written assurance that the new Taliban office in Qatar does not constitute political recognition for the extremist group, senior Afghan officials told Reuters on Wednesday.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai phoned US Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday to express his concerns over the Taliban office, the officials said.

"Before the opening of the office the United States gave us written guarantees and they were violated," one of two officials who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity said.

Broken promises?

Senior Afghan officials accused the United States of breaking written assurances to Kabul that a new Taliban office in Qatar would not be used as a de facto diplomatic mission.

The accusation, by two senior Afghan officials came hours after Afghan President Hamid Karzai announced the suspension of negotiations with the United States on a troop pact, and said his government would not join US peace talks with the Taliban, announced on Tuesday, until such talks were led by Afghans.

The United States and the Taliban have said officials from both sides will meet in Doha, the capital of Qatar, on Thursday, raising hopes for a negotiated peace in Afghanistan after 12 years of bloody and costly war between American-led forces and the insurgents.

Both Afghan officials repeatedly said the manner in which the Taliban office was opened was "a violation of written principles and assurances provided by the US".

Specifically, they objected to the ceremonial opening of the office -which included a prominent Taliban flag and a banner with the insurgent group's state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan - giving the impression that the Taliban had achieved some level of international political recognition.

"The peace process is a critical priority for us, and we will not allow anyone to abuse this process as a roundabout way of achieving goals they failed to achieve on the battlefield," one of the senior government officials said.

Karzai had a phone conversation on Wednesday morning, Kabul time, with US Secretary of State John Kerry in which Karzai "expressed his displeasure" regarding the ceremony, the official
said.

The pair, who have enjoyed a relatively warm relationship, were due to have another call on Wednesday evening. One of the officials also read from a notebook, quoting what he said were the "written principles and assurances" provided by the United States. He said the manner of the opening of the office was a clear violation of those assurances.

''The Taliban office will be called the Taliban office for the purpose of negotiations between the Afghan government's High Peace Council and the authorised representatives of the Taliban'," he read.

"(The Taliban office will) not be referred to as an embassy, as an emirate, a government or a sovereign (state). And (it is not to) be used for any terrorist or violent activities or for funding'."

Reuters was unable to independently verify the assurances that the official said Washington had given. The official declined to state exactly how they had been provided or by whom, except to say they had come in a written form from the US government.

US officials said that in the talks in Doha, the United States would stick to its insistence that the Taliban break ties with Al Qaeda, end violence, and accept the Afghan constitution, including protection for women and minorities.

US denies talks scheduled

The United States on Wednesday denied it scheduled talks with the Taliban, the State Department said after reports that discussions with the Afghan insurgent group could begin this week in Doha.

"Reports of a meeting scheduled are inaccurate," spokesperson Jen Psaki told reporters, saying that Washington had "never confirmed" any specific meeting. "We are now in consultations with the Afghan leadership and the High Peace Council on how to move forward."]]>
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			<title>Talks, not force: PTI announces APC to strategise for Taliban dialogue</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/565577/talks-not-force-pti-announces-apc-to-strategise-for-taliban-dialogue</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/565577/talks-not-force-pti-announces-apc-to-strategise-for-taliban-dialogue#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 19 Jun 13 17:34:19 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[noorwali.shah]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[K-P]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=565577</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[K-P information minister says meeting will discuss ways to begin talks; demands will be conveyed to federal govt.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government announced on Wednesday the convention of an All Parties Conference in Peshawar in the coming days to chalk out a strategy to begin peace talks with the Pakistani Taliban. 

The announcement comes a day after a suicide attack in Mardan that killed 35 people, including provincial MPA Imran Khan Mohmand, and injuring over 60 people.

Speaking to reporters at Lady Reading Hospital, PTI Deputy Parliamentary Leader in K-P and provincial Health and Information Minister, Shaukat Yousafzai, reiterated that the war on terror was not Pakistan’s war and dialogue, rather than force, was the solution to lasting peace in the region.

“If the Unites States has started negotiations with the Afghan Taliban in Qatar, despite the former fighting the latter for the last 12 years with their sophisticated weapons, and recognised that talks is the only solution, then we should also start talks to bring peace in our region,” Yousafzai said.

The health minister added that the K-P government would convene the APC in the coming days and political parties, members of the civil society, intellectuals and professors will be invited to chalk out a comprehensive strategy.

“When we agree on a one point agenda during our upcoming provincial APC, then a jirga will meet the federal government to inform them about our grievances and demands. The federal government needs to come into the front because PML-N has also promised restoration of peace during electioneering,” said the PTI leader.

He stated that PTI had planned before the general elections to review Pakistan’s foreign policy and the American drone programme if it came into power at the Centre. But since the party could only win in K-P, it now was the PML-N government’s jurisdiction to take practical steps to stop the violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty.

The deputy parliamentary leader in K-P opined that there was no guarantee of peace across the country if there was no harmony in K-P.

Replying to a question about the difficulties of starting any peace talks in the face of continuous drone strikes, Yousafzai said the federal government should not take any dictation from the US and avoid taking help from foreign countries in the shape of loans.

“How dare the US interfere in our internal affairs when we can directly tell them that we do not need their help. The time has come to make a clear policy so that the people can know what is going on in dealing with other countries,” he said.]]>
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			<title>Karzai meets Qatar emir during visit on Taliban office</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/529148/karzai-meets-qatar-emir-during-visit-on-taliban-office</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/529148/karzai-meets-qatar-emir-during-visit-on-taliban-office#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 31 Mar 13 14:10:46 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[afp]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=529148</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Afghan president previously opposed a Taliban office as he feared his govt would be frozen out of future peace deal.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Afghan President Hamid Karzai held talks Sunday with the emir of Qatar during a visit to discuss opening a Taliban office in the Gulf state, as a prelude to possible peace negotiations with the militants.

Karzai discussed "issues of mutual interest" with Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa alThani, state news agency QNA said, without giving details of the meeting in Doha city.

The Afghan president previously opposed a Taliban office in Qatar since he feared that his government would be frozen out of any future peace deal involving the extremists and the United States.

The militants refuse to have direct contact with Karzai, saying he is a puppet of the United States, which supported his rise to power after the military operation to oust the Taliban from Kabul in 2001.

But with US-led Nato combat troops due to withdraw from Afghanistan by the end of 2014, Karzai recently backed the proposed office in Doha and his office said he would raise the plan on Sunday.

Any future peace talks still face numerous hurdles before they begin, including confusion over who would represent the Taliban and Karzai's insistence that his appointees should be at the centre of negotiations.

"We will discuss the peace process, of course, and the opening of an office for the Taliban in Qatar," presidential spokesman Aimal Faizi told AFP before Karzai left Kabul on Saturday.

"If we want to have talks to bring peace to Afghanistan, the main side must be the Afghan government's representatives - the High Peace Council, which has members from all the country's ethnic and political backgrounds," Faizi added.

Negotiating with the Taliban regime that harboured al Qaeda before the 9/11 attacks was for many years anathema to countries in the UN-backed coalition against the militants.

But the search for a political settlement became a priority as the insurgency raged on, with Taliban leaders able to fuel violence from safe havens across the border in Pakistan.

Kabul has repeatedly stressed that it will only start talks if the militants break all links with al Qaeda and give up violence, and Faizi said any Taliban office in Qatar must be subject to strict conditions.

"It can only be an address where the armed opposition sit and talk to the Afghanistan government," he said. "This office cannot be used for any other purposes."

Karzai met Qatari investors on Saturday evening and encouraged them to invest in the country as it works to secure stability before Nato-led combat forces withdraw next year.

"The future of Afghanistan is guaranteed because our relations have expanded with America and other countries such as China, India and Russia," he said according to an emailed statement.

"Afghanistan has good opportunities and resources that we can share with you."

The United Nations last week welcomed news that Karzai would visit Qatar, and issued another call for the Taliban to come to the negotiating table.

But a Qatar office could mean little if the Taliban continue to refuse to negotiate with Karzai or with the government-appointed High Peace Council.

"The opening of the Taliban office in Qatar is not related to Karzai, it is a matter between the Taliban and the Qatar government," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP.

"Our representatives who are already in Qatar won't see or talk to him."

The militants broke off tentative contacts with the US in Qatar a year ago after the failure of attempts to agree on a prisoner exchange as a confidence-building measure.

Pakistan, which backed the Taliban's 1996-2001 rule over Afghanistan and is seen as key to any workable peace deal, has expressed support for a Taliban office in Doha.]]>
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			<title>Pre-conditions: Pakistan issues rejoinder to Afghan allegations</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/528614/pre-conditions-pakistan-issues-rejoinder-to-afghan-allegations</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/528614/pre-conditions-pakistan-issues-rejoinder-to-afghan-allegations#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 30 Mar 13 05:38:17 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[kamran.yousaf]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=528614</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Foreign ministry spokesperson says Islamabad has not asked Kabul to snap ties with India.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Pakistan has strongly rejected Kabul’s latest recriminations that it had attached ‘pre-conditions’ to its commitment to reconciliation efforts in Afghanistan.


The foreign ministry spokesperson issued a rejoinder in the wake of statements made by the Afghan presidential spokesperson that Pakistan had ‘abandoned’ the peace process and imposed ‘impossible’ pre-conditions on any further discussions that may encourage the Taliban to lay down their weapons.

“Things were going well up to the trilateral (summit) in Britain, so we were hopeful, but soon it became clear that Pakistan had changed its position and the peace process is no longer its priority,” Karzai’s spokesman Aimal Faizi told AFP on Thursday.

“They demanded we cut all ties to (Pakistan’s arch-enemy) India, send army officers to Pakistan for training, and sign a strategic partnership.”

But foreign office spokesman Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry insisted that Pakistan had not set any pre-conditions for the peace process. “Pakistan is wholeheartedly supporting and facilitating the peace process without any conditions or preference for any particular group or party,” Chaudhry added.



Responding to the allegations, the spokesman pointed out that the proposal for a strategic agreement between Pakistan and Afghanistan had emerged from President Karzai, adding that the Pakistan government had welcomed the idea.

He also clarified that Pakistan had not demanded Afghanistan to cut all ties with India.  “Pakistan has no objection or issue with Afghanistan developing relations with any country. We have only stressed that those external forces which are using the soil of Afghanistan to destabilise Pakistan should be discouraged,” he added.

On sending Afghan army officers to Pakistan for training, Chaudhry said this was an offer made by the Pakistan government out of goodwill to contribute to the training needs of the Afghan security forces.

He reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to the peace process and stability in Afghanistan.

Tensions between the two neighbours resurfaced earlier this week when both sides accused the other of impeding the peace process.


Published in The Express Tribune, March 30th, 2013.]]>
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			<title>Hopes of Taliban deal hit by Afghan-Pakistan dispute</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/527764/hopes-of-taliban-deal-hit-by-afghan-pakistan-dispute</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/527764/hopes-of-taliban-deal-hit-by-afghan-pakistan-dispute#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 28 Mar 13 12:14:24 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[afp]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=527764</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Afghan officers' visit to Pakistan was called off by Kabul over reported cross-border firing.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Recriminations between Afghanistan and Pakistan on Thursday undermined hopes that a recent thaw in cross-border relations could help bring Taliban militants to the peace table.

Western officials believe Pakistan, which backed Afghanistan's 1996-2001 Taliban regime, has a crucial role to play in efforts to negotiate a political settlement with the extremists and end more than a decade of war.

Relations had recently improved, building up to a three-way summit hosted by Britain last month as part of efforts to end the conflict in Afghanistan.

But a confidence-building visit by 11 Afghan officers to take part in a military exercise in the Pakistani city of Quetta was called off by Kabul over reported firing across the border from Pakistan.

Afghanistan has been pushing Pakistan to encourage the Taliban to open talks, but said its neighbour now seemed unwilling to take action.

"Pakistan for a long time supported an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace process," Janan Mosazai, the Afghan foreign ministry spokesman, told AFP.

"Now Pakistan is shifting the goalposts... which is extremely disappointing and demonstrates Pakistan's unwillingness to support the Afghan peace process."

Mosazai also lashed out at "disingenuous" reported accusations by unnamed Pakistani officials this week that Hamid Karzai, Afghan president since 2001, was an obstacle to the peace push as international combat troops start to withdraw.

"President Karzai has put his reputation on the line and invested a tremendous amount of political capital into improving trust with Pakistan," he said.

The governor of the eastern Afghan province of Kunar, Fazlulah Wahidi, said up to 50 rockets fired from Pakistan damaged property on Monday and Tuesday.

The Pakistani foreign ministry said its troops had responded to what it called "some intrusions from the Afghan side".

"We believe that Afghanistan overreacted to a small incident," said foreign ministry spokesman Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry after Kabul cancelled the military visit.

Chaudhry said the visit had been designed to increase "mutual cooperation and confidence."

But Afghanistan and Pakistan deeply distrust each other and trade blame for Taliban violence plaguing both sides of their 2,400-kilometre border, drawn up by British colonialists.

Last month a conference of Afghan and Pakistani religious scholars aimed at pushing forward the peace process was called off due to disagreements.

The head of Pakistan's Ulema Council, Allama Tahir Ashrafi, said there was no point to the meeting unless the Afghan Taliban were invited.

He was then accused in Afghanistan of condoning suicide attacks in a television interview in which he insists he was misunderstood.

There was another dispute over Maulvi Faqir Mohammad, a senior Pakistani Taliban fighter arrested recently in Afghanistan. Pakistan demanded he be handed over, but Kabul indicated he would be held as a bargaining chip for prisoner exchanges.]]>
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			<title>Taliban should not have suspended talks offer: Fazl</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/526088/taliban-should-not-have-suspended-talks-offer-fazl</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/526088/taliban-should-not-have-suspended-talks-offer-fazl#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 25 Mar 13 05:27:53 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[zulfiqar.ali]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=526088</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Says that even though negotiations have been stalled, they have not come to an end.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Taliban should not have suspended the dialogue offer to the government, leader of his own faction of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Maulana Fazlur Rehman said on Sunday.


Speaking at a news conference marking the occasion of seat adjustment with Israrulllah Gandapur, Fazl said that the video released by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) states that offer of talks has been suspended, but that does not mean the negotiations have come to a halt.

“There is still hope. But the offer should not have been suspended,” said Fazl, adding that the government failed to show its seriousness for starting negotiations with the Taliban.

In an eight-minute video released by the TTP from an undisclosed location, its spokesperson Ehsanullah Ehsan claimed that the security forces and the government are not serious about the peace dialogue, which is why the TTP have decided to postpone the peace talks.

Fazl said that since the caretaker government will be involved with the upcoming polls, there is little hope that they will negotiate with the Taliban. However, the JUI-F leader said that when the next government comes to power, it will back negotiations with the Taliban.



When asked whether the stalling of talks will have an impact on the elections, Fazl said that it will have no bearing on the polls and he assured that they will be held on time.

On the appointment of Mir Hazar Khan Khoso as caretaker prime minister, Fazl said that he fully agrees with the decision of the ECP.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 25th, 2013.]]>
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			<title>JUI-F chief shares peace plan with North Waziristan tribe</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/519516/jui-f-chief-shares-peace-plan-with-north-waziristan-tribe</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/519516/jui-f-chief-shares-peace-plan-with-north-waziristan-tribe#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 12 Mar 13 06:42:43 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[zulfiqar.ali]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category><category><![CDATA[K-P]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=519516</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Fazlur Rehman says change of govt won’t affect grand jirga’s workings.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman shared details of a peace initiative for Federally Administered Tribal Areas with the Uthmanzai tribesmen of North Waziristan. The initiative, according to Maulana Fazl, is to be facilitated through a grand jirga.

Maulana Fazl gave details of the all parties conference (APC) hosted by the JUI-F on February 28 that had declared its trust in a more expansive grand tribal jirga and tasked its members with immediately engaging all ‘concerned parties,’ including the Taliban, for the sake of peace in the country.

The jirga meeting was held at Wazir Garden, Hakim Khan Kot, Dera Ismail Khan on Monday after the Uthmanzai tribe (Wazir and Dawar) had demanded the JUI-F chief to explain his peace initiatives for the region.

“...following their demands, I told them the details of the JUI-F jirga, the APC and the initiative for the peace process in Fata,” the JUI-F chief said after the meeting.

Allaying concerns of the tribe regarding the support of a government, he said that this jirga is not dependent on the change of government because constitutionally the chief executive of Fata was the president of Pakistan and not the PM.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 12th, 2013. ]]>
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			<title>Afghan Taliban dismiss reports of meeting with Fazlur Rehman</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/506704/afghan-taliban-dismiss-reports-of-meeting-with-fazlur-rehman</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/506704/afghan-taliban-dismiss-reports-of-meeting-with-fazlur-rehman#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 13 Feb 13 08:43:35 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[tahir.khan]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=506704</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[The JUI-F chief was reported to be in Qatar to &quot;encourage the negotiators to talk to the Afghan government.&quot;]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[The Afghan Taliban on Wednesday dismissed media reports stating Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Fazlur Rehman met Taliban negotiators in Qatar.

Rehman was reported to be in Qatar to "encourage the negotiators to talk to the Afghan government."

The group termed the reports incorrect.

“We want to make it categorically clear that the honourable head of the political office of the Islamic Emirate and any other member of the office in Qatar has neither met anyone nor any such meeting had been under consideration,” said the Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid.

The Pashto-language statement, the first formal reaction to the reported Rehman-Taliban contact, was emailed to The Express Tribune.

However, sources close to the Taliban in Qatar, have confirmed to The Express Tribune that Rehman held one round of talks with the Taliban negotiators in Qatar and that more talks are planned.

The JUI-F chief - who was earlier scheduled to return home on Tuesday - has also extended his stay in the Gulf state, the sources said.

Another JUI-F source in Pakistan, had earlier told The Express Tribune, that Rehman had gone to Qatar to meet representatives of the Afghan Taliban to "reduce gap" between the Taliban and the Karzai government.

Taliban has so far refused to hold talks with the Afghan government, which they say is powerless and installed by foreigners.

They quickly rejected a recent call by the Afghanistan-Pakistan-UK summit in London where leaders in a joint statement asked the Taliban to begin intra-Afghan talks.

The JUI-F source said that Rehman had agreed to travel to Qatar and to meet the Taliban negotiators after he was authorised by the Pakistani government. Rehman had told the government he will not meet the Taliban as the JUI-F head but as a state representative.

“The Karzai government was also on board before Rehman’s trip,” the source told The Express Tribune.

According to the source, Rehman had clarified that his efforts will not be equivalent to the Taliban-US talks as that was Taliban’s own move.]]>
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			<title>Not surprised: Qatar talks bound to fail, say experts</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/350763/not-surprised-qatar-talks-bound-to-fail-say-experts</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/350763/not-surprised-qatar-talks-bound-to-fail-say-experts#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 16 Mar 12 00:45:22 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[kamran.yousaf]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=350763</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[It was believed that the US attempted to bypass both Pakistan and Afghanistan in secret negotiations with the Taliban.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[For Pakistan, the Qatar initiative had always been a nonstarter. And for this very reason, the announcement by the Afghan Taliban that they are pulling out of direct talks with the United States has come as no surprise for Islamabad.


“It was inevitable … if you work in isolation such initiatives are bound to fail,” said a security official, reacting to the news being seen as the latest setback to US efforts of seeking a political settlement to the decade-long war in Afghanistan.

It was believed that the US attempted to bypass both Pakistan and Afghanistan when it began secret negotiations with the Taliban. While Afghan President Hamid Karzai publicly criticised the move, Pakistan chose to remain silent over the setting up of a Taliban political office in the Persian Gulf state of Qatar.

Islamabad and Kabul thought to have preferred Saudi Arabia or Turkey for such negotiations.

“We don’t mind if the office is set up in Qatar, Saudi Arabia or any other country. Our main concern is that all stakeholders must be on board,” said the official, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.

Security analyst Brig (retd) Mahmood Shah believes that even though Pakistan was not happy with the US’ ‘solo flight’, it did not attempt to sabotage the initiative.

“In fact Pakistan has even allowed Taliban leaders to travel to Qatar for talks,” said Shah, who has also served as the secretary of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).

Earlier, Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar had suggested Kabul to take the lead in any efforts aimed at reaching out to the Taliban. However, without specifically naming the Qatar process, she insisted that Islamabad had done nothing to block any other initiatives.

Many experts believe that Qatar initiative aimed at limited gains but very few expected the process to fail so early on.

“Taliban agreed to talk to the Americans with an aim that they should be recognised as a force in Afghanistan. The talks failed earlier than expected,” Shah pointed out.

The move is also being seen as a possible strategic move by the Taliban to take advantage of the recent incident of burning of Holy Qurans and the more recent killing of Afghan civilians by a US solider.

The developments appear to have strengthened the Taliban and have led to the adoption of a tougher stance on talks with the Americans, argued Shah.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 16th, 2012.]]>
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			<title>Afghan reconciliation: Taliban break off talks with Washington</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/350760/afghan-reconciliation-taliban-break-off-talks-with-washington</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/350760/afghan-reconciliation-taliban-break-off-talks-with-washington#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 16 Mar 12 00:07:41 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[afp]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=350760</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Afghan President Karzai orders US out of villages.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[The Taliban broke off contacts over peace talks with Washington on Thursday and the Afghan president demanded US troops leave village outposts, just days after an American soldier massacred 16 villagers.


Hamid Karzai also called for a transition of the nation’s security from Nato control to the Afghan government in 2013 rather than the previous deadline of 2014, after a meeting with visiting US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.

That plan was floated by Panetta ahead of a Nato meeting in Brussels last month, but the US-led coalition insists that it will only withdraw its combat troops by the end of 2014. The announcements from the Taliban came hard on the heels of the shooting spree by the US soldier, who has been detained and flown out of the country.

The fallout overshadowed Panetta’s two-day visit to Afghanistan, which was planned ahead of the shooting and was aimed at calming relations already hurt by last month’s burning of Holy Qurans at a US base in the war-torn country.

The Taliban made no mention of the killings as it announced the suspension of contacts with US officials in Qatar over a prisoner swap -- talks that had built up hopes of a political solution before US troops leave.

“It was due to their alternating and ever-changing position that the Islamic Emirate was compelled to suspend all dialogue with the Americans,” the Taliban said on their website.

The rapid developments came after what US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called “a difficult and complex few weeks in Afghanistan”.

“We’re ready to take over all security responsibilities now,” Karzai’s spokesman Aimal Faizi quoted him as telling Panetta. “We’d prefer that the process be completed in 2013, not 2014.”

Karzai then told Panetta that US-led international forces should “be withdrawn from villages and relocated in their bases”, his office said in a statement, without specifying a timeline.

It was not immediately clear how many American bases may be affected by Karzai’s demand, as the United States previously disbanded a number of outposts in a bid to concentrate on securing major towns from Taliban influence.

Nor was there any immediate response from Nato or Panetta, who told reporters after his Karzai talks that he was “confident” both sides could work out a treaty allowing a US military presence in the country beyond 2014.

The defence chief said he was optimistic that both sides would reach an agreement on controversial night raids -- a major issue blocking the treaty -- ahead of a Nato summit in Chicago in May.

Karzai objects to the raids on the grounds that they violate the sanctity of Afghan families in their own homes and that they are responsible for many civilian deaths -- a claim the US disputes.


Published in The Express Tribune, March 16th, 2012.]]>
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			<title>US stood-up by Taliban on talks</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/350440/us-stood-up-by-taliban-on-talks</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/350440/us-stood-up-by-taliban-on-talks#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 15 Mar 12 14:05:17 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[afp]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=350440</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[After massacre of civilians, Karzai tells allied troops to leave Afghan villages, transfer security to ANA by 2013.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[With months of back channel talks seemingly yielding results as the Taliban and the US almost coming to fruition with talks of a proposed prisoner transfer earlier in the year, the Taliban on Thursday announced that confidence-building talks with the Americans had been broken off.

The mood for the Americans was further soured as the Afghan president also ordered US troops out of villages, demanding a transition of security from Nato control in 2013.

The announcements from the Islamist militants fighting American troops for over 10 years and Hamid Karzai, Washington's key ally in Kabul, came just days after an unprecedented shooting spree by an American soldier killed 16 civilians.

The fallout overshadowed a two-day visit to Afghanistan by US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta that was aimed at soothing anger over Sunday's massacre and last month's burning of Qurans at a US base in the war-torn country.

The Taliban made no mention of the killings as it announced the suspension of contacts with US officials in Qatar over a prisoner swap - talks that had built up hopes of a political solution to the war in Afghanistan before US troops leave in 2014.

"It was due to their alternating and ever-changing position that the Islamic Emirate was compelled to suspend all dialogue with the Americans," the Taliban said on their website.

In Kabul, Panetta and Karzai gave radically different versions of talks between the two men, after the Americans insisted that recent events would not see US-led Nato combat troops withdraw earlier than scheduled in 2014.

"We're ready to take over all security responsibilities now," Karzai's spokesman Aimal Faizi quoted him as telling Panetta. "We'd prefer that the process be completed in 2013, not 2014," he told AFP.

Karzai then told Panetta that US-led international forces should "be withdrawn from villages and relocated in their bases", his office said.

It was not immediately clear how many American bases may be affected by Karzai's demand, as the United States previously disbanded a number of outposts in a bid to concentrate on securing major towns from Taliban influence.

Nor was there any immediate response from Nato or Panetta, who told reporters after his Karzai talks that he was "confident" both sides could work out a treaty allowing a US military presence in the country beyond 2014.

The defence chief said he was optimistic that both sides would reach an agreement on controversial night raids - a major issue blocking the treaty - ahead of a Nato summit in Chicago in May.

Karzai objects to the raids on the grounds that they violate the sanctity of Afghan families in their own homes and that they are responsible for many civilian deaths - a claim the US disputes.

The treaty being negotiated is supposed to cover Afghan-US relations beyond 2014, with the United States reportedly keen to maintain a foothold in a country to help prevent it from once again becoming a haven for al Qaeda.

Analysts fear Sunday's shootings could complicate talks on a possible long-term US troop presence, as the government has so far refused to grant them legal immunity - the same issue that scuppered a US strategic pact with Iraq.

Panetta said he promised Karzai that the gunman would be brought to justice and that the Pentagon would look at what circumstances may have caused the incident - including the possible effect of combat stress on troops.

But his visit was also overshadowed by an unprecedented security breach during his arrival in Afghanistan on Wednesday when an Afghan interpreter tried to ram a truck into US Marines waiting to greet the Pentagon chief.

The incident, which American officials took 10 hours to confirm, took place as Panetta flew into the high security Camp Bastion base.

Panetta downplayed the matter, telling reporters: "I have absolutely no reason to believe that this was directed at me," but adding: "This is a war area" and "we're going to get these kind of incidents".

Bomb attacks killed at least 22 Afghans in the south during Panetta's two-day visit - eight civilians in Helmand and a policeman in Kandahar on Wednesday and 13 women and children in a roadside bomb in Uruzgan on Thursday.

Military officials dripped out confused details of the attempted airport attack, claiming first that there was no link to Panetta's arrival and then confirming that the target was indeed his US Marine welcoming committee.

The incident is likely to heighten concerns about a surge in attacks on Western troops carried out by Afghans being trained to take over in 2014.

According to US officials, an Afghan interpreter hijacked a pick-up truck from a soldier and drove it at a group of US Marines on the airfield tarmac, before it crashed and burst into flames.

A British soldier was injured "in the course of the theft" of the vehicle, a military official said, without giving details.

Meanwhile the US does not believe that Afghan President Karzai is seeking for NATO forces to pull out of Afghan villages immediately, despite his statement on Thursday, a US defence official told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"We believe that this statement reflects President Karzai's strong interest in moving as quickly as possible to a fully independent and sovereign Afghanistan," said Pentagon spokesman George Little, who was also briefing reporters travelling with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta in Abu Dhabi.

"We believe that we need to continue to work together because that's an American goal as well. And we believe that it needs to be done in a way that responsibly affects that outcome."]]>
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			<title>Peace overtures: Rehman Malik offers olive branch to Taliban</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/348843/peace-overtures-rehman-malik-offers-olive-branch-to-taliban</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/348843/peace-overtures-rehman-malik-offers-olive-branch-to-taliban#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 12 Mar 12 04:51:15 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
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			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=348843</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Interior minister asks militants to renounce violence and join dialogue.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Interior Minister Rehman Malik invited the Taliban on Sunday to prove themselves Pakistanis by renouncing violence and sitting across the table with the government for peace talks.


“Standing in the historic city of Lahore, I urge the Taliban to come and join us in pursuit of durable peace instead of violence for our future generations,” he told journalists outside the Governor House.

Responding to a query regarding sectarian groups involved in violence, Malik said if such organisations seek forgiveness, there was no harm in giving them a chance.

Asked about the possibility of granting citizenship to illegal immigrants, he said the matter would be taken up, adding that all immigrants would be offered relief according to the country’s law.

He added that all such immigrants who entered Pakistan illegally – whether they hailed from Afghanistan or Bengal – their stay was illegal until a decision was made by the government.

When quizzed about the petition of Air Marshal (retd) Asghar Khan in the Supreme Court, Malik said he would not speak on the issue since the matter was sub judice. However, he added that the interior ministry had enough material in the Mehran Bank scam.

Malik said the FIA was in possession of the documents recovered from the Mehran Bank, asserting that Younus Habib was convicted in the light of these documents.

The minister dispelled the impression that any conspiracy was behind the Asghar Khan case, asserting that the PPP had always been a victim of conspiracies in the past as false cases were registered against President Zardari and Benazir Bhutto by Saifur Rehman in the 90s.

The minister said that the elements who became a party in the Memogate scandal must also go the Supreme Court in the Asghar Khan case.

Regarding former president Pervez Musharraf’s red warrant, Malik said the government had communicated the court orders to Interpol, adding that the PML-N wanted a treason case to be registered against the former dictator and he had offered the PML-N leadership to lodge a formal complaint against Musharraf since the PML-N government was toppled by him.

He said the government did its duty but no such complaint was lodged by the PML-N.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 12th, 2012.]]>
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			<title>Pakistani Taliban in talks to heal rift: Sources</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/347232/pakistani-taliban-in-talks-to-heal-rift-sources</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/347232/pakistani-taliban-in-talks-to-heal-rift-sources#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 08 Mar 12 08:14:31 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[afp]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=347232</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Commanders trying to heal damaging rift that has inflamed tensions over whether to pursue peace efforts.]]>
			</description>
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				<![CDATA[Pakistani Taliban commanders are locked in talks, trying to heal a damaging rift that has inflamed tensions over whether to pursue peace efforts with the government, insiders say.

After months of relative calm, bomb and suicide attacks are again hitting Pakistan's northwest, raising fears that militants are again on the offensive despite reports late last year that commanders were exploring peace contacts.

"The one-point agenda is how to adopt a uniform policy," a Taliban commander told AFP from an undisclosed location on condition of anonymity.

The umbrella Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is a loose confederation of rival commanders. Divisions first came to the fore after founder Baitullah Mehsud was killed in a US drone strike in August 2009.

The young and radical Hakimullah Mehsud - a clan relation to Baitullah - ultimately won a leadership battle, pushing the TTP closer to al Qaeda and overseeing some of Pakistan's bloodiest gun and suicide attacks yet.

Mullah Omar, the Afghan Taliban supreme leader, reportedly asked TTP commanders to stop attacks as his movement explores confidence-building talks with the Americans at the start of a nascent peace process in Afghanistan.

The only TTP commander who refused to comply was Hakimullah Mehsud, putting him at odds with his arch-rival, the older and more measured Waliur Rehman, sources say.

Differences appeared to bubble over Sunday with the sacking of Mehsud's deputy, Maulvi Faqir Mohammad, who is considered close to Rehman, at a TTP meeting.

"Dialogue with Pakistan is a secondary issue. First, we're trying to end our disputes and after that we will decide on holding talks with Pakistan," the Taliban commander told AFP.

"There are serious differences between Hakimullah Mehsud and Waliur Rehman which everybody wants to end," he added.

The TTP leadership has held several meetings with representatives from the Afghan Taliban and Afghanistan's militant Haqqani network to try to unite, but commanders are constantly on the move, worried about US drone missiles.

"Several rounds of talks have taken place but commanders can't sit together in one place for long as they fear drone strikes," another source told AFP.

Experts are divided over the significance of Mohammad's sacking with the government and former officials convinced that the TTP is now weaker than ever, hit hard by the US drone strikes and by Pakistani military offensives.

"Hakimullah Mehsud has his group with its own weight but TTP commanders are scattered. Some are in Afghanistan, some in the tribal areas. There is a lack of communication," said Mehmud Shah, a former tribal belt security chief.

"There are commanders who aren't listening to Mehsud... The shura (meeting) of some of its leaders is just to show their importance. The TTP structure is broken and they are making efforts to rebuild it and remove difference," he added.

Mohammad has insisted that he initiated peace contacts in Bajaur, his home district and one of seven in Pakistan's northwestern tribal belt, with the full knowledge of Mehsud's TTP leadership as a "test case".

"They told me that first the peace process should take place in Bajaur and then be expanded," he told AFP by telephone.

Malik Sultan Zeb, an elder in the Mamund tribe in Bajaur, said tribesmen were keen to cut a deal with the TTP provided that the militants were willing to stop attacks.

"America is holding peace talks with (Afghanistan's) Taliban and we also want to have peace talks with the militants," he said.

A Pakistani security official, speaking on condition of anonymity and saying his information was based on informants, said the message to unite came from Mullah Omar in December.

"He sent a message saying, peace in Pakistan is imperative for us," the official said.

"Hakimullah Mehsud is still reluctant about various issues, but intermediaries from Afghanistan are trying to solve the rifts," he told AFP.]]>
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			<title>Changed voice</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/341745/changed-voice</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/341745/changed-voice#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 25 Feb 12 19:44:08 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[editorial]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Editorial]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=341745</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[For the very first time, the Gilani has called for the Taliban in Afghanistan to come to the negotiating table.]]>
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				<![CDATA[For the very first time, the prime minister has called for the Taliban in Afghanistan to come to the negotiating table — a move which Kabul has been calling for repeatedly and with growing persistence. Till now, Islamabad has declined to comment on the issue — which is obviously vital to President Hamid Karzai, especially as fears grow that the Afghan set-up could be left completely out of the process as the US conducts talks with the key Taliban leadership in Qatar. This dialogue is taking place in a bid to bring the continuing conflict in Afghanistan to an end, and by doing so, making it easier for the US to withdraw from the country.

Pakistan’s change in position has come rather suddenly. It is not quite clear what the factors involved were, but what we do know is that Mr Yousaf Raza Gillani’s call for calm came only after three meetings were held with the military leadership, including the chief of army staff. The ‘go ahead’ from General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and other key military strategists had obviously come before the statement in Islamabad was made, which will, of course, be welcomed and greeted with relief in Kabul. President Karzai — increasingly assuming the role of a puppet — is trying his best to show that he has some hold over his shattered country and there is now also a likelihood of some ease in tensions between Kabul and Islamabad. Pakistan’s role in the whole affair had always been a delicate one. Despite accusations from the US, it has consistently denied harbouring Taliban militants on its soil. It has also had to play carefully when it comes to demonstrating what interests it has in Kabul and what role it sees for a country where it has manipulated matters many times before. The call from the prime minister also reignites the debate about the ‘moderate’ Taliban, and whether such an entity exists at all. The reality also is that whatever happens down the road in Kabul will also have an impact on our own nation. Moves for peace are always welcome — but we do hope this one has been carefully thought out with all its possible consequences for the future of the region.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 26th, 2012.]]>
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			<title>Undeterred by attacks: K-P government rules out talks with militants</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/341496/undeterred-by-attacks-k-p-government-rules-out-talks-with-militants</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/341496/undeterred-by-attacks-k-p-government-rules-out-talks-with-militants#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 25 Feb 12 05:14:45 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[our.correspondent]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category><category><![CDATA[K-P]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=341496</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Hussai­n says the latest attack was a conseq­uence of the contin­uation of drone strike­s in the region.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain on Friday ruled out any negotiations with militants in the wake of two consecutive attacks on the provincial capital, after months of relative calm.


Earlier, Awami National Party (ANP) chief Asfandyar Wali Khan, on the eve of Baacha Khan’s death anniversary, had said that the government was ready to talk to militants if they renounced violence as a means to their ends.

Addressing a press conference in Peshawar, Hussain, while speaking about the second attack in as many days in Peshawar, told reporters that militants had planned to take over the police station and take around 372 police personnel hostage to force the government to acquiesce to their demands.

“It was a cowardly act and such wanton action will lead them nowhere,” he said, adding that the attack was a consequence of the continuation of drone strikes in the region.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 25th, 2012.]]>
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			<title>Reaction: Plea makes waves in Afghanistan</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/341522/reaction-plea-makes-waves-in-afghanistan</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/341522/reaction-plea-makes-waves-in-afghanistan#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 25 Feb 12 00:39:22 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Naveed Hussain]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=341522</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Unless peace returns to Afghanistan, it is not possible to guarantee peace in Pakistan, the Hizb leader said.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Afghan officials and an insurgent group reacted positively to an impassioned appeal from Pakistan Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani for all stakeholders to enter into an intra-Afghan dialogue in order to stabilise their country.


The Hizb-e-Islami Afghanistan (HIA) – the group led by former warlord Gulbudin Hekmatyar – welcomed the initiative and even offered to lend its support to what it said was a “vindication of its principled stand”.

“We’ve been saying all along that all stakeholders in the Afghan imbroglio should sit together, discuss the issue threadbare, and come up with a viable solution without foreign interference,” the group’s political whip Dr Ghairat Baheer told The Express Tribune.

Asked if the Hizb-e-Islami would declare a ceasefire following the Pakistan leader’s appeal, Baheer said, “Once the Afghans agree on a full package, a ceasefire will automatically come into force.”

However, he cautioned that an intra-Afghan dialogue would not take place until the US-led Nato forces withdraw from Afghanistan.

Unless peace returns to Afghanistan, the Hizb leader said, it is not possible to guarantee peace in Pakistan. “The interests of Pakistan and Afghanistan are inter-woven. Our destiny is common,” he added.

The Taliban, on the other hand, reacted cautiously to the move. Their spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid told The Express Tribune that the Taliban leadership would discuss the matter and issue a formal reaction.

Afghan Ambassador Omar Daudzai said the Pakistani leader’s move was ‘positive’ but he challenged him to take ‘practical steps’.

“Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and President Hamid Karzai had agreed in their recent telephone conversation to launch such appeals,” Daudzai told The Express Tribune by phone from Kabul.

“We hope that all sides in Afghanistan will come up with a positive response to the Pakistani prime minister’s appeal,” he added.

The Afghan High Peace Council – a body formed by President Karzai to talk to the Taliban – has also welcomed the move. Echoing Daudzai’s remarks, a senior member of the peace council said, “This is a positive step, but Pakistan should take practical steps to help resolve the Afghan crisis.”

“This is important because it’s the first time an elected prime minister of Pakistan has come out to make such an appeal,” Maulvi Arsala Rahmani told The Express Tribune by phone from Kabul.

Rahmani, who was the education minister in the Taliban regime before 2001, believes that Pakistan could make the Taliban come to the negotiating table. “Personally, I believe the Qatar initiative was not possible without Pakistan’s help,” Rahmani said.

In December last year, the Taliban confirmed that it had decided to open a liaison office in the Qatari capital of Doha to explore the possibility of talks with the Americans.

However, Rahmani said that the Qatar talks were not for the final settlement of the Afghan issue. “For a political settlement of the Afghan issue, the Taliban would have to talk to the Afghans,” he said.

Rahmani was upbeat about the Taliban entering the intra-Afghan dialogue at some stage. “They (the Taliban) are Afghans. And in their midst, they have Uzbeks, Tajiks, Hazaras and Pashtuns. They’re sons of the soil. They would have to sit across the table with their countrymen to resolve this issue,” he added.

Afghan analysts say Gilani’s appeal is a “welcome shift” in Pakistan’s policy. “It appears that Islamabad has finally realised the futility of its flawed Afghan policy,” Kamal Sadaat, a Kabul-based security analyst, told The Express Tribune by phone.

“Without a stable Afghanistan, you cannot have peace in Pakistan,” Sadat said. “And the policy of supporting one particular armed group in Afghanistan will not benefit Pakistan.”


(Read: The many faces of Afghan peace)

Published in The Express Tribune, February 25th, 2012.]]>
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			<title>Afghan reconciliation: Gilani urges Taliban to extend olive branch</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/341543/afghan-reconciliation-gilani-urges-taliban-to-extend-olive-branch</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/341543/afghan-reconciliation-gilani-urges-taliban-to-extend-olive-branch#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 25 Feb 12 00:08:19 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[sumera.khan]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category><category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=341543</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[PM asks Afghan groups to participate in an intra-Afghan process for reconciliation.]]>
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				<![CDATA[It seems Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s persistence has finally paid off.


Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Friday publicly urged Taliban leaders and other Afghan insurgent groups to take part in a peace process to end a decade of war in neighbouring Afghanistan – a request Karzai has frequently put forth to the leadership in Pakistan.

“I would like to appeal to the Taliban leadership as well as to all other Afghan groups, including Hizb-e-Islami, to participate in an intra-Afghan process for national reconciliation and peace,” Gilani said in a statement.

Commenting on a recent statement by the Afghan president calling Pakistan’s support in peace talks “vital”, Gilani said Pakistan was duty bound to respond positively to the Afghan president’s request, adding that Pakistan, on its part, was prepared to do whatever it can for Afghan reconciliation.

The text of the premier’s statement emphasised that stability, peace and national reconciliation in Afghanistan was critical for regional peace and stability.

The premier seemed to be in high spirits when it came to relations between the two countries, saying the neighbours had witnessed important developments during recent years.

The premier said Pakistan had immense respect for Afghanistan’s sovereignty, and adhered to the principles of non-intervention and non-interference in the internal affairs of the country.

“We strongly believe that the process of national reconciliation must be Afghan-led and Afghan-owned as it is imperative to promote an intra-Afghan consensus for a durable political settlement that accords with the aspirations of the people of Afghanistan, as a whole,” Gilani said.

The premier also appealed to the international community to fully support national reconciliation and peace in Afghanistan, adding that Pakistan appreciated the initiative taken by Karzai.

Consultations with the military 

Prior to making the appeal, Prime Minister Gilani consulted with the military on three different occasions during the day.

Director General of the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) Ahmed Shuja Pasha called on the premier to discuss issues pertaining to national security, and, according to sources, the Afghanistan situation remained an important point of discussion.

Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir, who was also present during the meeting, briefed the prime minister on Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar’s trip to London, as well as on developments that have taken place in the last couple of weeks, particularly regarding Pakistan and US ties.

According to reports, the prime minister had a conversation with Army chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani on the phone and met with the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Khalid Shammim Wyne as well.

The reaction

According to former foreign secretary and analyst Tanvir A Khan, the prime minister’s appeal is expected to be welcomed by Afghanistan and the US, as both have been, for ages, pressurising Islamabad to bring Taliban leaders to the negotiating table.

He added that it is believed that Pakistan is a base for Taliban leadership, including Mullah Omar and Gulbuddin Hekmat iyar.

“Quite clearly, it is not within Pakistan’s power to [bring Taliban to the negotiating table] particularly since it also insists that the top leadership of Taliban is not located anywhere in its territory; so the next best thing is to deploy whatever moral influence Islamabad may have,” Tanvir said.

He added that, in reality, the prime minister’s appeal is determined to strengthen President Karzai’s diplomatic campaign to play a bigger role in the peace process as he is apprehensive that Kabul and Islamabad are both being locked out of the US-Taliban talks in Qatar.

(Read: Qatar talks and Pakistan)

Published in The Express Tribune, February 25th, 2012. ]]>
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			<title>Gilani urges Taliban to take part in peace talks with Afghan government</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/341199/gilani-urges-taliban-to-enter-peace-talks-with-afghan-government</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/341199/gilani-urges-taliban-to-enter-peace-talks-with-afghan-government#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 24 Feb 12 09:17:44 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[afp]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=341199</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Gilani says in a statement that it is his &quot;sincere hope&quot; that the Taliban and other groups respond to his appeal.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Friday called on Taliban leaders and other Afghan insurgent groups to take part in a peace process to end 10 years of war in neighbouring Afghanistan.

"I would like to appeal to the Taliban leadership as well as to all other Afghan groups, including Hizb-e-Islami, to participate in an intra-Afghan process for national reconciliation and peace," he said in a statement.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai this week again invited the Taliban for direct talks with his government, urging Pakistan to facilitate negotiation efforts in Afghanistan, where US-led combat troops are due to leave by 2014.

Taliban representatives have begun contacts with US officials in the Gulf state of Qatar designed to build confidence and pave the way for a prisoner exchange, but the militia has publicly refused to talk to Karzai's government.

Pakistan says it will do anything required by Kabul to support an Afghan-led peace process, but there is a wide degree of scepticism in Afghanistan and the United States about the sincerity of the former Taliban ally.

"It is now time to turn a new leaf and open a new chapter in the history of Afghanistan... to build peace and bring prosperity to Afghanistan" said Gilani.]]>
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			<title>Afghan reconciliation: ‘One centre of gravity needed to attain peace’</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/340243/pakistan-vows-to-support-not-lead-afghan-peace-drive</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/340243/pakistan-vows-to-support-not-lead-afghan-peace-drive#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 23 Feb 12 04:51:49 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[reuters]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category><category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=340243</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Foreign minister reiterates support for Afghan-led peace efforts.]]>
			</description>
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				<![CDATA[Pakistan will give its full support to any clear effort by the Afghan government to achieve a political settlement with the Taliban but does not want to lead a peace process that would impose a solution, Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said on Wednesday.

Khar said Afghans were tired of attempts by other countries to take charge of their affairs and, for the good of future bilateral ties, Pakistan should not be seen to be interfering too closely.

“We will support any (peace efforts) that are Afghan-led, Afghan-owned and Afghan-driven. This is our first and last pre-requisite,” Khar said in a speech at Chatham House, an international relations think tank in London.

“But we will not lead. We cannot lead ... We will only follow what our Afghan brothers and sisters decide is the course of action they will adopt,” she said.

Khar added that as long as that condition was met, Pakistan would not block any effort by any nation to assist the Afghan government in achieving a political settlement to end war in Afghanistan.

In a statement on Tuesday, Afghan President Hamid Karzai asked Pakistan “to support and facilitate our direct negotiation efforts as part of the peace process”.

“Pakistan’s support to the peace process will be crucial to its success, as well as a significant contribution to the security and stability of Afghanistan and the entire region,” Karzai said.

After a period of greater strain than usual, relations between Kabul and Islamabad have improved.

Khar said Afghans had to decide for themselves what was the best course of action to achieve peace in their country. Peace was in Pakistan’s national interest but there should be only “one centre of gravity” in the effort to attain it and that should be an Afghan-led process, she said.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 23rd, 2012.]]>
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			<title>Afghan officials concede meeting Taliban in Pakistan</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/339967/afghan-officials-concede-meeting-taliban-in-pakistan</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/339967/afghan-officials-concede-meeting-taliban-in-pakistan#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 21 Feb 12 21:03:55 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[reuters]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=339967</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Officials have been meeting for &quot;some time&quot; with mid-level Taliban commander in Quetta: Kandahar peace council head.]]>
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				<![CDATA[ Afghan officials are holding talks with the Taliban in Pakistan, the head of a provincial peace council in the insurgency's heartland Kandahar said on Tuesday, in a possible signal that Islamabad is boosting its support for Afghan peace efforts.

Kandahar peace council head Ata Mohammad Ahmadi told Reuters the officials have been meeting for "some time" with mid-level Taliban commander in the southwest Pakistani city of Quetta, where the leadership of the militant group is said to be based.

"In the last 10 days, our peace council delegation have gone to Quetta three times in twos and threes," he said.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government has repeatedly called on regional power Pakistan to support its efforts to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table.

Ties between Pakistan and Afghanistan were strained for months after the assassination in September of Afghan peace envoy and former president Burhanuddin Rabbani.

Afghan officials blamed Pakistan's intelligence agency, allegations angrily denied by Islamabad.

But Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said after a recent trip to Kabul that a lot of the ill will between the neighbours had faded. She said Pakistan would encourage Afghan militant groups to pursue peace if asked by Kabul.

Karzai held talks with Pakistani leaders in Islamabad last week.

"We are very optimistic about President Karzai's recent trip to Pakistan and that may have opened the door," Arsala Rahmani, a senior member of Afghanistan's High Peace Council – tasked with reaching out to insurgents - told Reuters.

In a statement released on Tuesday, Karzai said: "While emphasising the importance of Pakistan's support for the peace process, I hereby request our brotherly government of Pakistan to support and facilitate our direct negotiation efforts as part of the peace process."

Afghanistan is known to want access to Taliban leaders belonging so the so-called Quetta Shura, named after the city where it is believed to be based.

The Kabul government believes they would be the decision makers in any substantive peace negotiations aimed at ending the war now in its eleventh year.

Pakistan, seen as critical to efforts to stabilise Afghanistan, has consistently denied giving sanctuary to insurgents and denies that any Taliban leaders are present in the southwestern city of Quetta, near the Afghan border.

It is unlikely that any meetings between Afghan officials and Taliban commanders could take place in Quetta without the knowledge of Pakistan's pervasive intelligence agencies.

Pakistan may have stepped up its cooperation with the Afghan government by allowing what Ahmadi said were meetings in Quetta. Pakistani officials were not immediately available for comment.

It was unclear if the reported Quetta meetings were part of broad Afghan government efforts to bring the Taliban into peace talks under the 70-member High Peace Council set up by Karzai.]]>
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			<title>Afghanistan's Karzai says speaks to Taliban every day: Report</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/339647/afghanistans-karzai-says-speaks-to-taliban-every-day-report</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/339647/afghanistans-karzai-says-speaks-to-taliban-every-day-report#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 21 Feb 12 11:09:34 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[reuters]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=339647</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Karzai says despite history, he is keen to work together with Islamabad to help advance peace talks.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai said his government talks to the Taliban every day through intermediaries, according to an interview by Australia's SBS television for broadcast on Tuesday.  

Afghan and US officials are seeking negotiations with the Taliban as a way of ensuring peace after foreign combat troops leave in 2014, though the talks lay in a very fragile state and the group recently rejected they existed at all.

"We talk to the Taliban every day. We were talking to them just a few days ago somewhere around this region," Karzai said in an interview taped a week ago in Kabul with SBS, adding his contact with the group's one-eyed leader Mullah Omar was through indirect means.

"(But) not personally," Karzai said when asked if he had spoken with Omar. "I mean not directly, person to person. But through intermediaries, yes."

Karzai and many Western analysts say the reclusive leader is based in the Quetta.

Karzai also stressed that peace talks with the Taliban, who were originally backed by Islamabad, are key to regional stability and bringing peace as well to Pakistan, a player seen as crucial to efforts to end the war in Afghanistan.

"It's no longer Afghanistan that's the subject of conversation, or the issue. It's Pakistan as well. It's peace in Pakistan as well. It's stability in Pakistan as well," he said.

The interview was recorded before Karzai's visit to Islamabad last week, where he upset Pakistan by asking for access to Afghan Taliban leaders belonging to the so-called Quetta Shura, or leadership council, named after the city where it is said to be based.

Karzai said despite the history, he is also keen to work together with Islamabad to help advance peace talks with the Taliban.

"We as the Afghan people and government are willing to help Pakistan work for peace in Afghanistan and work for peace in Pakistan, together," Karzai said in fluent English.

Karzai added that Afghanistan was making progress on security in the eleventh year of a costly war, local and foreign support for which is souring.

The United States and NATO are racing against the clock to train a 350,000-strong force of Afghan army and police who will take over all security responsibilities before end-2014, when foreign combat troops leave, though scepticism looms that the target can be met in an increasingly violent war.

The Afghan leader also said the Taliban would not return to power in a total capacity.

"I don't think the Taliban will ever come back to take Afghanistan, no," he said.

"Two years ago I would have been uncertain and unwilling to give you an answer as firm as I do today. The Afghan people will not go back to the nothing of 10 years ago."]]>
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			<title>Talk of peace stirs up Qaeda-Taliban tensions</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/339579/talk-of-peace-stirs-up-qaeda-taliban-tensions</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/339579/talk-of-peace-stirs-up-qaeda-taliban-tensions#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 21 Feb 12 05:28:02 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[afp]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=339579</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[In the wake of Afghan Taliban reconciliation talks, Qaeda feels increasingly abandoned in its fight against West.]]>
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				<![CDATA[The Taliban's decision to talk to the United States is stirring up tensions with al Qaeda as the Afghan militia comes under pressure to dump their terror allies in the name of peace.

Times are hard for al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The network has been weakened significantly by US drone strikes on their hideouts, last May's killing of founder Osama bin Laden and by finances drying up.

And since the Afghan Taliban declared themselves in favour of talks with the United States in Qatar that could help end a decade of war in Afghanistan, al Qaeda has felt increasingly abandoned in its fight against the West.

As far as it's concerned, talking to the Americans is treason.

“Al Qaeda blames us. They tell us ‘why are you letting us down, as we helped you when you were down?’” an Afghan Taliban official told AFP.

“We’re not happy with the Doha process,” a source close to al Qaeda confirmed to AFP. “We want the war to continue in Afghanistan and Pakistan.”

After taking power in 1996, the Taliban regime allowed al Qaeda to base itself in Afghanistan, taking advantage of fierce codes of hospitality and alliances made during the 1980s jihad against the Soviets in Afghanistan.

But the alliance cost the Taliban dear. They refused to hand over bin Laden to the Americans after the September 11, 2001 attacks, the United States invaded and their regime collapsed within weeks.

The Americans ruled out any negotiations and the Taliban fled across the border into Pakistan’s lawless tribal belt, where they found support among al Qaeda fighters, giving birth to a new stage in their relationship.

al Qaeda strengthened its links with Pakistani extremist groups, including the umbrella Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which pledged allegiance and in 2007 launched a bloody insurgency against the US-allied government in Islamabad.

In Afghanistan, the conflict only worsened, making it increasingly evident that there could be no military victory for anyone.

US President Barack Obama’s announcement that Nato combat troops would withdraw in 2014 opened the door to a possible return to power for the Taliban.

But Washington has conditioned peace on the Taliban cutting all ties with al Qaeda. Saudi Arabia has also made its involvement in peace efforts conditional on the Taliban renouncing al Qaeda.

By approving talks with the United States, the elusive one-eyed Taliban leader Mullah Omar has dissociated himself from al Qaeda.

Considerably weakened, foreign fighters in al Qaeda number no more than a few hundred in Pakistan and only dozens in Afghanistan, observers say.

On February 9, Pakistani officials said Badar Mansoor was killed in a US drone strike in Waziristan. He was described as the “de facto leader of al Qaeda in Pakistan” and coordinator between al Qaeda and local Taliban.

“Afghan Taliban think they have done enough for al Qaeda and bin Laden. Links between al Qaeda and Taliban got weaker after bin Laden's death,” said Rahimullah Yusufzai, a Pakistani journalist and expert on the Afghan war.

Mullah Omar recently asked the Pakistani Taliban to distance themselves from al Qaeda and no longer attack Pakistan, considered vital in any peace process in Afghanistan, said the Afghan Taliban official.

TTP factions committed to a ceasefire, but the only commander who refused to comply was Hakimullah Mehsud, he added. Young and impetuous, the TTP leader says there will be no end to attacks until Washington stops drone strikes.

Mehsud is part of a new generation, graduates of ultra-radical movements from Punjab with a sectarian agenda and veterans of particularly brutal bombings, leading to fears about a new “Pakistani” version of al Qaeda.

Attacks have declined in recent months in Pakistan, which officials put down to the Taliban being weakened by drone strikes and Pakistani offensives.

But as long as the drone strikes continue and the army continues to attack, “the threat won’t dry up,” particularly in the tribal belt – the main recruitment hub for militants, Yusufzai warned.]]>
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			<title>No progress?: ‘Afghan talks will fail without all groups’</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/338727/afghan-talks-to-fail-without-all-groups-hizb-i-islami</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/338727/afghan-talks-to-fail-without-all-groups-hizb-i-islami#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 19 Feb 12 15:40:38 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[reuters]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=338727</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Hizb-i-Islami says no real progress in US-Taliban talks.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Peace efforts in Afghanistan are likely to fail if they do not include all militant groups, a senior member of one of the country’s most notorious insurgent factions said on Sunday.

“If any group is isolated or ignored, that group then becomes the centre of the resistance, and can cause problems,” Ghairat Baheer, of Hizb-i-Islami, told Reuters in Islamabad.

Baheer, who was held in US detention at Bagram Air Field, north of Kabul, for six years until his 2008 release, also asserted that he had not seen enough progress in US-Taliban talks to suggest they were any closer to formal negotiations.

“So far they have not been able to agree on even minor issues that could be taken as goodwill gestures. There’s no official inauguration of the (Taliban) office, there is no release of prisoners and no one has been removed from the blacklist,” he said.

“Things are stuck. We are also in a wait and see situation.”

Hizb-i-Islami shares some of the Afghan Taliban’s anti-foreigner, anti-government aims, and wants to oust international forces. The group, led by Afghan warlord and former prime minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, claims to have thousands of fighters in its ranks, based mainly in Afghanistan’s restive east, bordering Pakistan, and in the north.

“There is communication, and there is negotiation going on between Hizb-i-Islami and the American and Afghan governments,” said Baheer, Hekmatyar’s son-in-law.

“There should be a comprehensive solution involving all parties and groups,” said Baheer, a doctor by training.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 20th, 2012.]]>
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			<title>Saudi renews call for Taliban to renounce Qaeda</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/338342/saudi-renews-call-for-taliban-to-renounce-qaeda</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/338342/saudi-renews-call-for-taliban-to-renounce-qaeda#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 18 Feb 12 13:45:22 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[afp]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=338342</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Senior Saudi official calls on the Taliban to lay down their arms and renounce al Qaeda.]]>
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				<![CDATA[A senior Saudi official on Saturday called on the Taliban to lay down their arms and renounce al Qaeda as preconditions for Saudi-mediated peace talks with the Afghan government.

"Saudi Arabia's conditions for mediation ... are that the Taliban lay down their weapons, engage in the political process and renounce al Qaeda," the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"These are our three demands, and they have not changed in three years," he added.

The Taliban, leading a 10-year insurgency against Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government, have denied reports of planned peace talks in Saudi Arabia, despite claims by Afghan officials that the two sides would hold talks in the kingdom separate from those planned in Qatar.

Taliban negotiators have begun preliminary discussions with the United States in Qatar on plans for peace talks aimed at ending the decade-long war. They have also announced plans to set up an office in Doha.

In late January, Afghan government spokesman Akim Hasher said Kabul has "always preferred Saudi to Qatar."

A member of the Taliban's leadership council has told AFP "the idea" that the Taliban should have a point of contact in Saudi Arabia was being pushed by the Pakistan and Afghan governments.]]>
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			<title>Afghan peace push brings rare chance, risks, for US</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/337768/afghan-peace-push-brings-rare-chance-risks-for-us</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/337768/afghan-peace-push-brings-rare-chance-risks-for-us#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 16 Feb 12 21:35:47 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[reuters]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=337768</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[At some point US would start sending the first of five senior Taliban members it has held for a decade to Qatar.]]>
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				<![CDATA[If all goes as hoped, US and Qatari negotiators will meet soon to nail down final details for transferring Taliban prisoners from Guantanamo prison - a momentous step for President Barack Obama, the Afghan war and perhaps US foreign policy as well.

Should US, Afghan and Qatari officials reach agreement, the Obama administration's careful diplomatic choreography then calls for the Afghan Taliban to open an office in Qatar to conduct peace talks with the Western-backed Afghan government.

The Taliban would be expected to make a statement condemning international terrorism.

And at some point - exactly when is unclear - the United States would start sending the first of five senior Taliban members it has held for a decade to Qatar.

On the way to the first-ever peace negotiations to end the long and bloody Afghan war, much could go wrong - indeed much already has. The peace talks have been beset by fits and starts, and U-turns, and there is a good chance that even these initial good-faith measures won't ultimately come off.

But Obama's peace gambit, which he hopes to unveil at a NATO summit in May, has the potential to be a significant development for US foreign policy. For the first time in a generation, diplomats will be seeking to broker a major settlement with an enemy US troops are fighting on the battlefield.

The talks, with the United States playing the role of mediator, offer a hope, however slim, forAfghanistan to decide its own destiny after nearly 40 years of conflict.

Obama's turn to diplomacy was born out of necessity and the realization that the Taliban were not going to go away.

"Two years ago the hope at the Pentagon was that we were going to defeat these guys so seriously they would no longer be a military force. No one expects that to happen anymore," said Bruce Riedel, a former CIA and White House official who chaired Obama's 2009 review of Afghan policy.

US officials, in preliminary internal discussions, have also been exploring what structure possible negotiations might take, what demands might be made of the Taliban and what sort of power-sharing scenarios might be considered if a real peace accord can be reached in Afghanistan.

The talks would take place at least in part in Qatar, and might include the senior Taliban prisoners whose transfer from Guantanamo Bay is a key confidence-building measure on the part of the Obama administration.

Facing pushback from lawmakers who fear Taliban detainees will join the insurgency, the Obama administration has stressed it has not yet made a final decision to transfer the prisoners. Officials are already bracing themselves for the torrent of bipartisan attacks sure to come from Capitol Hill if and when they begin the notification process for moving detainees.

Taliban's true intentions murky

While the Afghan peace attempt echoes similar US efforts in the past, US officials dislike the comparison with Vietnam, where the 1973 Paris Peace Accords that were supposed to end the war - but didn't - were seen as a cover for the US departure and abandonment of an ally, South Vietnam.

Today's initiative contrasts with US reluctance in more recent years to engage directly with other adversaries - Iran, the Islamist Palestinian group Hamas, or Lebanon's Hezbollah.

Michael O'Hanlon, an expert on US foreign policy at the Brookings Institution in Washington, said a long period followed the Korean and Vietnam wars in which Washington did less direct engagement with its enemies. That reluctance became more stark after the September 11 attacks, when the George W. Bush administration cast efforts to defend against security threats as a battle between good and evil.

While that period appears to be coming to an end - and the Afghan Taliban, unlike Hamas and Hezbollah, was never designated as a terrorist group - the idea remains controversial.

As a candidate, Obama was widely criticized for suggesting he would meet with leaders of rogue nations like Iran without precondition.

As president, he has shown himself to be determined to wind down the costly wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, where he is moving to withdraw most US combat troops by the end of 2014.

Obama "recognizes that wars, and in particular counterinsurgencies, end when enemies talk to each other," said Caroline Wadhams, a security expert with the Center for American Progress, a think tank seen as close to the White House.

Yet critics of Obama's bid for a negotiated settlement contend the push for peace comes far too late, as a decisive troop drawdown plan dilutes remaining US leverage.

Reading the tea leaves

To keep their initiative on track, US officials must grapple not only with hostility in Congress and what they describe as Afghan President Hamid Karzai's erratic stance toward initial US efforts. They must also confront the legacy of unanswered Taliban advances in the past.

Michael Semple, a former UN official with over two decades of experience in Afghanistan, said that since the Taliban government was toppled in 2001, the group has approached Afghan and Western officials repeatedly to indicate an interest in surrender, negotiations or reentry into the political process.

The first meeting took place in early December 2001 just north of Kandahar, the seat of Taliban power, between senior Taliban officials and Karzai, only then emerging as Afghanistan's interim leader.

As a significant political force in Afghanistan's long civil conflict, Semple said, the Taliban leadership "expected to be insiders in the process."

That overture fell flat - as did ones by Taliban leaders who endorsed the pursuit of negotiations when they gathered in Pakistan in 2002 and again in 2004.

Western officials, seeing a marginal military threat from the Taliban, expressed little interest. Karzai allies, eager to solidify their own growing political power, discouraged the Americans from accepting Taliban suggestions.

While the Taliban slowly regained its military power over the years, various individuals affiliated with militant leadership approached Afghan or US officials, including Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil, the Taliban's last foreign minister, and Tayeb Agha, a close aide to Taliban leader Mullah Omar who is now the chief interlocutor in US discussions.

Some Taliban representatives were kept waiting. Some ended up in prison. Over time, militants' grew deeply suspicious of Western and Afghan government statements on the talks - a major handicap to the US peace efforts today.

Veteran US diplomat Ronald Neumann, who was US ambassador in Kabul from 2005 to 2007, says he cannot recall a serious discussion with senior Bush administration officials during his tenure in Kabul about initiating peace negotiations.

"A harsh judgment is required for the way this was handled," said Semple, a long-time advocate of peace talks who is now a fellow at Harvard University. "When people start to add up cost of war in Afghanistan over the last decade, they will ask how on earth the new Afghan leadership and US officials failed to take advantage of these early overtures by the Taliban."

Even a year after peace talks became the centerpiece of US political strategy for the war, the motives of a fundamentalist group whose rule of Afghanistan was known for its brutality and repression remain uncertain.

While the Taliban has long refused to engage with the Karzai government, US officials believe a set of influential Taliban 'pragmatists' is ready to make a deal. Whether they can bring more strident members along is a different question.

"The fear of civil war and the fear of losing control are two important motivations for the Taliban to now be engaging," said Alex Strick van Linschoten, a Taliban expert.

Perhaps the biggest obstacle US negotiators face is timing - whether they can establish a sustainable peace process before the bulk of Western forces go home, leaving a highly vulnerable Afghan government standing largely on its own.

Even if the Obama administration manages to get political negotiations going, progress in hammering out a sustainable power-sharing arrangement is likely to be slow at best.

"As an Arab friend used to say about another topic: 'You can wait for this sitting down,'" Neumann said.

(Read: Qatar talks and Pakistan)]]>
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			<title>US, Taliban talks only 'exploratory': Afghan envoy</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/337407/us-taliban-talks-only-exploratory-afghan-envoy</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/337407/us-taliban-talks-only-exploratory-afghan-envoy#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 16 Feb 12 13:45:50 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[reuters]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=337407</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[When there are talks, it's supposed to be between the Afghan government and the Taliban, envoy adds.]]>
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				<![CDATA[The Afghan Taliban and the United States have made only exploratory contacts for possible reconciliation which do not involve the Kabul government, the Afghan ambassador to Pakistan said on Thursday.

"I must emphasise that word "exploratory". They are not talks," Umar Daudzai told Reuters.

"When there are talks, it's supposed to be between the Afghan government and the Taliban. We have not reached to that stage although we wish to reach to that stage."

The Wall Street Journal earlier reported, based on an interview it conducted with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, that the US and Afghan government had begun secret three-way talks with the Taliban.

The newspaper quoted Karzai as saying the Taliban were "definitively" interested in a peace settlement to end the 10-year war in Afghanistan, and that all three sides were now involved in discussions.

"There have been contacts between the US government and the Taliban, there have been contacts between the Afghan government and the Taliban, and there have been some contacts that we have made, all of us together, including the Taliban," Karzai said in the interview.

The Wall Street Journal said Karzai had declined to specify the location of the talks or go into further detail, saying he feared this could damage the process.

The Afghan Taliban announced last month it would open a political office in Qatar, suggesting the group may be willing to engage in negotiations that could likely give it government positions or official control over much of its historical southern heartland.

"At a high level, (there are) secret talks and American-Taliban talks. I'm not aware of any other than the Qatar process," said Daudzai.

"The Qatar process is exploratory contacts between Taliban and the United States."

The Afghan ambassador said the Kabul government's contacts with the Taliban were limited to communications between low-level officials and local insurgent commanders.

Washington wants to accelerate contacts with the Taliban so it can announce serious peace negotiations at a Nato summit in May, officials say, in what would be a welcome bright spot in Western efforts to end the war in Afghanistan.

The United States hopes it can declare a start to authentic political negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban at the May 20-21 summit in Chicago, after a year of initial, uncertain contacts with militant representatives.

It would be a needed victory for the White House and its Nato partners in Afghanistan as they struggle to contain a resilient insurgency and train a local army while moving to bring their troops home over the next three years.]]>
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			<title>Karzai aims to get peace process on the road with Pakistan trip</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/336329/karzai-aims-to-get-peace-process-on-the-road-with-pakistan-trip</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/336329/karzai-aims-to-get-peace-process-on-the-road-with-pakistan-trip#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 14 Feb 12 15:11:14 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[reuters]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=336329</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Pakistan is seen as critical to efforts to reach a settlement to Afghanistan's conflict.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Afghan President Hamid Karzai will press Pakistan to provide access to senior Afghan Taliban leaders when he visits Islamabad this week in a bid to advance a nascent peace process with the group, senior Afghan officials said on Tuesday.

Pakistan is seen as critical to efforts to reach a settlement to Afghanistan's conflict, now in its eleventh year, and is believed to have influence over Afghan insurgent groups.

"We hope that Pakistan will arrange a purposeful meeting between us and so that we find a solution to our own problems," said one Afghan official, emphasising hopes of direct talks with Taliban leaders belonging so the Quetta Shura, named after the Pakistani city where it is said to be based.

"Pakistan has paid little attention to our concerns and the level of cooperation has not been sincere or honest so far," he complained.

Pakistan has consistently denied giving sanctuary to insurgents and denies the existence of any Quetta Shura.

But Afghans have long been suspicious that Pakistan uses groups like the Afghan Taliban as proxies in Afghanistan to counter the growing influence of rival India.

Ties between Pakistan and Afghanistan were strained for months after the assassination in September of Afghan peace envoy and former president Burhanuddin Rabbani.

Afghan officials blamed Pakistan's intelligence agency, allegations angrily denied by Islamabad.

But Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said after a recent trip to Kabul that a lot of the ill will between the neighbours had faded, and she said Pakistan would encourage Afghan groups to pursue peace if asked by Kabul.

Karzai's spokesman Aimal Faizi said while relations between the neighbours in recent months had seen "ups and downs", the trip was aimed at consolidating a recent improvement.

Karzai is expected to meet Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari during his visit which starts on Thursday.

They are also due to hold talks on counter-terrorism and trade in a trilateral summit with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The Afghan Taliban announced last month it would open a political office in Qatar, suggesting the group may be willing to engage in negotiations that could likely give it government positions or official control over much of its historical southern heartland.

While Afghanistan supports any talks that the Taliban may have with American officials in Qatar, it also wants countries like Pakistan and Saudi Arabia to play a role so that the process is comprehensive, analysts say.

Karzai will meet Pakistan’s religious leaders and opposition figures in a bid to broaden support for fledgling talks with the Taliban, the senior Afghan officials said.]]>
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			<title>Qatar talks and Pakistan</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/335009/qatar-talks-and-pakistan</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/335009/qatar-talks-and-pakistan#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 11 Feb 12 19:07:30 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[editorial]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Editorial]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=335009</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Pakistan’s concerns have been addressed by allowing it in plus the Afghan factions it thinks it controls.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[The talks with the Taliban at Doha in Qatar seem to have taken on elements of reality after recent American diplomatic activity and Pakistan’s response to it. The parties that will take part in the talks will be the two major antagonists — the Hamid Karzai government and the Taliban of Mullah Umar — plus other stakeholders. From reports it is apparent that Pakistan’s concerns have been addressed by allowing it in plus the Afghan factions it thinks it controls. If reports about who will come to Doha to talk about post-withdrawal Afghanistan are accurate, then Pakistan has got what it wanted. India is absent while Pakistan is very much there. Pakistan has been backing the cause of the Afghan-Pakhtun side of the war and doesn’t enjoy any mutual level of confidence with the Northern Alliance containing Tajik, Hazara and Uzbek parties at present ruling Afghanistan in tandem with the government of President Karzai. The talks are being held in an atmosphere of implied reversal for the overall American war in Afghanistan and an undisclosed acknowledgement that America has to speak to the Taliban and Pakhtun factions from a position of weakness. This means that Pakistan gets the upper hand and will back its protégés — in so far it can control them — to achieve the objective of having a government in Kabul that will safeguard its strategic interests.

Washington’s special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Marc Grossman reportedly met Taliban leaders in Qatar as a sequel to his earlier talks with them in late January. The consistent stance of the Taliban led by Mullah Umar is that they will not talk unless the Americans leave Afghanistan, after which they will also not talk to President Karzai because “he is a puppet and nothing more” of the Americans. But there is obviously some movement on this front because the Taliban have agreed to open an office in Qatar, instead of Saudi Arabia which they preferred, and have been given satisfaction on how much leverage they will have during the talks. There is growing evidence that President Obama’s ‘surge’ has not yielded dividends in the shape of a tactical upper hand which would give America the chance to negotiate from a position of strength. Stories emanating from US military personnel back home after operations suggest that the US cannot rely on the Afghan police and military to fight the Taliban after the Americans leave.

A hitherto angry Pakistan now seems willing to talk about letting the Nato supply convoys resume and meetings that were made taboo have started to take place. Senior military officials from Pakistan, Nato and Afghanistan met for the first time in months this past week in what a post-meeting statement said was “an effort to improve border coordination”. An apology is finally being considered in Washington over the November 26 border attack that seriously damaged relations between the US and Pakistan. Although recent drone attacks have killed mostly al Qaeda fighters, and are supposed to taper off only after the US somehow reaches an understanding with Pakistan about al Qaeda and its Pakistani affiliates, the progress at Qatar is supposed to break new ground distinctly in line with the thinking of Pakistan.

Pakistan’s position — heavily blinkered by its perception of India as an encircling enemy interfering in Balochistan — is less studied about how far it can use the Taliban and the two Afghan factions that it is said to be fielding at Qatar. What kind of leverage will Pakistan exercise over them after the Taliban sense that the Americans want to quit in a hurry is still up in the air. The Taliban have never been reliable as partners in the past. It is not certain whether once ensconced in Kabul in place of the Karzai government they will help Pakistan fight its tough battles in Orakzai and Kurram against its own increasingly criminalised Taliban. Few in Pakistan realise that over the years Pakistan’s wrong policies have caused it to resemble Afghanistan in its internal landscape of a state with a weak writ and a heavy penetration of the enemy’s worldview — not India’s — among the general population.

Correction: An earlier version of this article misspelt 'what' as 'want'.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 12th, 2012.]]>
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			<title>Top US envoy met Taliban in Qatar: Afghan official</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/333484/top-us-envoy-met-taliban-in-qatar-afghan-official</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/333484/top-us-envoy-met-taliban-in-qatar-afghan-official#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 08 Feb 12 13:34:10 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[afp]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=333484</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[The talks between the Taliban and Marc Grossman came in late January, a source says.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Washington's chief envoy to Afghanistan met Taliban leaders in Qatar as part of US efforts to bring the insurgents to the negotiating table, a senior Afghan official said on Wednesday.

The talks between the Taliban and Marc Grossman came in late January, after he met Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul, the official said, asking to remain anonymous because of the sensitivity of the issue.

Grossman, President Barack Obama's chief envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, later briefed Karzai about his talks with Taliban representatives during a visit by the Afghan leader to Italy.

"I can confirm that Mr Grossman met with the Taliban representatives in Qatar. When the president (Karzai) was in Rome, he came over to his residence and briefed him about his meetings with the Taliban," the official said.

The US, which heads a 130,000-strong force fighting a Taliban insurgency against Karzai's government, has made tentative moves towards talks with the Taliban in Qatar, where they plan to open an office.

Karzai, rejected by the Taliban as a "puppet", has said publicly that he supports the plan, but was widely reported to be concerned that he would be sidelined in the Taliban's talks with the US.

Washington dispatched Grossman to Kabul last month to assure the Afghan president of a leading role once the talks get under way.

The official told AFP that during his visit to Kabul Grossman met Karzai twice and "a number of agreements were made over a number of issues concerning Taliban talks".

He refused to give details but "our stance is unchanged: the president wants the talks to be Afghan-led and Afghan owned", he said.]]>
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			<title>Talks with the Taliban: US keeps Pakistan in the loop</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/333309/talks-with-the-taliban-us-keeps-pakistan-in-the-loop</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/333309/talks-with-the-taliban-us-keeps-pakistan-in-the-loop#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 08 Feb 12 01:04:07 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[kamran.yousaf]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=333309</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Premature to suggest that the US was now willing to ‘show its cards’ to Pakistan on the Afghan reconciliation.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[The United States has briefed Pakistan on its initial contacts with the Afghan Taliban in a move which signals the easing of months-long tensions between the two allies, whose cooperation in stabilising the war-torn country is considered essential.


The important briefing was given through Pakistan’s Ambassador to the US Sherry Rehman, who met key Obama administration officials recently, a senior government official familiar with the development told The Express Tribune.

The move signifies that, despite apparent strains in their relationship, the two countries have managed to cover considerable ground to narrow down their differences, including the way forward for the Afghan endgame.

The official, who asked to remain anonymous due to the sensitive nature of the subject, has confirmed that Islamabad was taken on board by Washington on its ‘exploratory talks’ with the Afghan Taliban in Qatar. However, he attempted to play down the hype, saying it was premature to suggest that the US was now willing to ‘show its cards’ on the Afghan reconciliation.

In the past, Washington was believed to have kept Islamabad in the dark about its peace overtures with the Taliban. The US’ reluctance to share its Afghan game plan is attributed to wildly-held suspicions in the west about Pakistan’s ‘double play’.

More recently, a leaked Nato assessment accused the country’s spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), for supporting the Taliban to direct attacks against forces stationed in Afghanistan, a charge Islamabad strongly denied.

However, notwithstanding the fresh allegations, a top American diplomat told The Express Tribune that Pakistan is now ‘responsive’ on the Afghan reconciliation process.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 8th, 2012.]]>
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			<title>Taliban negotiations: PM to discuss Afghan peace in Qatar</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/331833/gilani-to-discuss-afghanistan-reconciliation-in-qatar</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/331833/gilani-to-discuss-afghanistan-reconciliation-in-qatar#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 05 Feb 12 05:09:18 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[agencies]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category><category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=331833</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Foreign minister expected to accompany prime minister.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[International relations can be baffling: A country that has  nothing to do with an issue is playing host to its solution.

Arguably one of the most prosperous countries in the world, Qatar has fast become the centre for the endgame of one of the most impoverished and battered – Afghanistan.

This trend will continue with the visit of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani next week to talk with officials from the Gulf state on the Afghan reconciliation process, a senior government official said on Saturday.

“Yes, the reconciliation process in Afghanistan will  come under discussion during the talks with Qatar’s leadership,” the government official told AFP.

The Afghan Taliban announced last month it would open a political office in Qatar, suggesting the group may be willing to engage in negotiations that would likely give its government positions or official control over much of its historical southern heartland.

Afghanistan has given its blessing to the move, but Kabul, wary of being sidelined in talks between the insurgents and Washington, has insisted on a central role in any negotiations.

Ties between Islamabad and Kabul have been strained in recent months but Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said after a visit to Afghanistan last week that ill will had eased considerably between the two neighbours, and even though Pakistan has not been playing a substantial role in the nascent Afghan peace process, she said, it would encourage militant groups like the Haqqani network or the Taliban to lay down their weapons if asked by Kabul.

“While it is not specifically on the agenda, Afghanistan will be discussed, including briefings from the Qatari leadership on efforts being made for the peace process and the Taliban office,” the official added.

Khar is expected to accompany the prime minister on the February 6-8 Qatar trip.

The foreign ministry was not immediately available for comment.

Gilani’s trip to Qatar precedes a trilateral summit in Islamabad between Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan on February 16. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad and Afghan President Hamid Karzai are scheduled to travel to Pakistan for the summit that will discuss the Afghan endgame.

Background

Qatar has been centre stage for not only the Afghan endgame but reportedly US-Pakistan negotiations, as well.

As part of behind-the-scene efforts, Director General Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lt General Ahmed Shuja Pasha is also said to have visited Doha, Qatar, a few times – where he was believed to have met senior US military and intelligence officials in the aftermath of the Nato cross-border attacks on Pakistani checkposts along the Afghan border.

The US military has strong presence in Qatar. The US’ Centcom maintains its regional headquarters in what is known as the Arab world’s financial capital.

Trade ties

It’s not all about Afghanistan, though. The prime minister will also hold talks to further promote trade and investment ties.

Oil and gas rich Qatar is considered to have the highest gross domestic product growth rate in the world – a whopping 18.7% – and the lowest unemployment rate at 0.4%.  The peninsula state also has one of the largest natural gas reserves in the world.

Among other things, the prime minister will discuss the import of liquified natural gas (LNG) and also the finalisation of transnational formalities in this regard. The two governments are likely to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Pakistan’s Water and Power Development Authority and Qatar’s ministry of energy.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 5th, 2012.]]>
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			<title>Pen-friends: Mullah Omar wrote to Obama, asked for Gitmo prisoner transfer</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/331763/pen-friends-mullah-omar-writes-to-obama-asks-for-gitmo-prisoner-transfer</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/331763/pen-friends-mullah-omar-writes-to-obama-asks-for-gitmo-prisoner-transfer#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 03 Feb 12 21:07:42 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[reuters]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=331763</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Letter, allege­dly from the Taliba­n leader, expres­sed impati­ence with slow proces­s of prison­er transf­er.]]>
			</description>
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				<![CDATA[The White House received a letter last year, purportedly directly from Mullah Omar, the reclusive leader of the Taliban, asking the United States to deliver militant prisoners whose transfer is now at the heart of the Obama administration's bid to broker peace in Afghanistan.

The unusual message kicked off a debate within the administration about whether it was truly authored by the mysterious one-eyed preacher believed to be directing the Taliban from hiding in Pakistan - and its meaning for US efforts to forge a negotiated end to 10 years of war.

"As we have engaged various interlocutors as part of the reconciliation process, we have received a variety of messages that were represented as being from senior members of the Taliban," an administration official said on condition of anonymity.

"However, we haven't received a letter that we are certain is from Mullah Omar."

The message reportedly expressed impatience that the White House had not yet transferred five former senior Taliban officials out of Guantanamo Bay military prison.

US officials have been considering moving the detainees to Afghan custody in the Gulf state of Qatar as one of a series of good-faith measures that, if successful, could lead to talks on Afghanistan's future between militants and the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

The accelerating efforts to set such talks in motion are now a central part of the Obama administration's strategy for leaving behind a modicum of stability as it winds down the US combat mission in Afghanistan.

After over 10 years of war, Washington and its Western allies are announcing their plans to steadily withdraw their troops amid doubts whether the chronically weak, corrupt Afghan government can confront ongoing violence.

Last month, the Taliban made a surprise announcement that it would open a political office in Qatar, suggesting the group may have moderated and would be willing to engage in negotiations that would likely give them government positions or official control over much of their historical southern heartland.

But whether or not the Taliban is truly interested in entertaining authentic political negotiations, or simply wants to recover its prisoners, is unclear.

The impact of the letter received last year on the reconciliation efforts, headed by Obama's special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Marc Grossman, is likewise unclear.

The administration official said the Obama administration is "skeptical" the letter was actually from Mullah Omar. "There's no signature. However, it expresses views consistent with what Taliban interlocutors have told us all along."

US officials say no decision has been made to go ahead with the transfer, but the White House is already facing pushback from members of Congress who warn the Taliban is not a credible negotiating partner and believe transferred detainees could rejoin the fight.

While Congress does not have the power to block the move, the White House might rethink such a risky move if serious bipartisan friction emerged in a presidential election year.]]>
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			<title>Hitting back: It’s old wine in an even older bottle, says Khar</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/330781/hitting-back-it%e2%80%99s-old-wine-in-an-even-older-bottle-says-khar</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/330781/hitting-back-it%e2%80%99s-old-wine-in-an-even-older-bottle-says-khar#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 02 Feb 12 00:21:37 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[kamran.yousaf]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=330781</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Says leaked report should be “disregarded as potential strategic leak”.]]>
			</description>
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				<![CDATA[Talk about bad timing. Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar’s first trip to Kabul since taking office last year took a turn for the worse on Wednesday after the visit was primarily eclipsed by a leaked Nato report accusing Pakistan of secretly aiding Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan.


The untimely one-day visit, which was aimed at thawing frosty ties between the two neighbours, was for the most part overshadowed by Khar’s denials of the contents of the Nato report.

“We have no hidden agenda in Afghanistan,” Khar told reporters after meeting President Hamid Karzai, adding that “these claims have been made many, many times.”

The minister went on to add that the report should be “disregarded as potential strategic leak”, characterising the document as “old wine in an even older bottle”.

“We consider any threat to Afghanistan’s independence and sovereignty as a threat to Pakistan’s existence.

“Pakistan and Afghanistan need to look forward to a relationship based on trust,” she added.

While Afghan Foreign Minister Zalmai Rasoul told the same news conference: “Pakistan plays a key role in Afghan peace process. I hope Ms Rabbani’s visit is the beginning of a good relationship between our two countries.”

‘Frivolous’ claims 

Meanwhile, the Foreign Office also rejected and hit out angrily at the leaked report on Wednesday, calling the report “frivolous” and “not worth commenting on”.

“This is frivolous, to put it mildly. We are committed to non-interference in Afghanistan and expect all other states to strictly adhere to this principle,” foreign ministry spokesman Abdul Basit told AFP.

“We are also committed to an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned reconciliation process,” Basit said.

“Pakistan has suffered enormously because of the long conflict in Afghanistan. A stable and peaceful Afghanistan is in our own interest and we are very much cognizant of this,” he added.

‘Deliberate’ leak

Efforts to normalise the already fragile alliance between Pakistan and the United States may suffer at the hands of the leaked Nato report, senior military officials believe.

A senior military official described the leak as ‘deliberate’, warning that it might further deteriorate Islamabad’s cooperation with Washington.

In recent weeks the two sides have made attempts to move beyond the fallout of Nato strikes and there were indications that Pakistan might resume Nato supplies which have been blocked for over two months now.

The latest US military findings, though, may now delay the impending rapprochement between the disenchanted but crucial allies to Afghanistan’s endgame.

“It goes without saying that the leak will certainly have a negative impact on efforts to defuse tensions with the US,” said the military official, who requested anonymity.

The official went on to say that the accusation was part of a ‘deliberate campaign against Pakistan’s security establishment.’

(Read: A thaw in Pak-Afghan ties?)

(Additional input from AFP)

Published in The Express Tribune, February 2nd, 2012.]]>
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			<title>‘Secret’ leaked: Pakistan stoking Taliban insurgency: NATO</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/330780/%e2%80%98secret%e2%80%99-leaked-pakistan-stoking-taliban-insurgency-nato</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/330780/%e2%80%98secret%e2%80%99-leaked-pakistan-stoking-taliban-insurgency-nato#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 01 Feb 12 23:33:51 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[agencies]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=330780</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Report says ISI ‘intimately involved’; Taliban dismiss the report as ‘rumours’.]]>
			</description>
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				<![CDATA[Just as Pakistan and Afghanistan started warming up to each other following months of mutual recrimination and tension, British media has outed a secret Nato document that can potentially blight relations again between the two neighbours.


The timing of the leaked report coincides with a visit to Kabul by Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar aimed at mending ties strained by last year’s assassination of top Afghan peace negotiator Burhanuddin Rabbani.

The report – leaked to The Times newspaper and the BBC – blamed Pakistan’s security services for ‘secretly aiding Afghanistan’s Taliban,’ who assume their victory is inevitable once Western troops leave.

Compiled from information gleaned from insurgent detainees, the report was given to Nato commanders in Afghanistan last month, media reports said.

The ‘State of the Taliban’ document claims that Pakistan’s premier spy agency the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), is ‘intimately involved’ with the insurgency.

The BBC said that the report was based on material from 27,000 interrogations of more than 4,000 captured Taliban and al Qaeda operatives.

“Pakistan’s manipulation of the Taliban senior leadership continues unabatedly,” the report was quoted as saying.

Taliban captives revealed how Islamabad was using a web of intermediaries and spies to provide strategic advice to the Taliban on fighting Western coalition troops.

“The government of Pakistan remains intimately involved with the Taliban,” the report states again.

“ISI is thoroughly aware of Taliban activities and the whereabouts of senior Taliban personnel. Senior Taliban leaders meet regularly with ISI personnel, who advise on strategy and relay any pertinent concerns of the government of Pakistan,” it added. “ISI officers tout the need for continued jihad and expulsion of foreign invaders from Afghanistan.”

However, there was little evidence from the detainees that Islamabad was providing funding or weaponry.

The Times quoted the report as saying the Taliban’s “strength, motivation, funding and tactical proficiency remains intact”, despite setbacks in 2011.

“Many Afghans are already bracing themselves for an eventual return of the Taliban,” it said. “Once (Nato force) Isaf is no longer a factor, Taliban consider their victory inevitable.”

Pentagon says ‘no comment’

The US Department of Defence said it could not comment on the report but set out its fears about Pakistan and its influence in Afghanistan.

“We have not seen the report, and therefore cannot offer comment on it specifically,” Pentagon spokesman George Little told AFP. “We have long been concerned about ties between elements of the ISI and some extremist networks.”

The report said there had been unprecedented interest in joining the Taliban cause in 2011 – even from members of the Afghan government.

“Afghan civilians frequently prefer Taliban governance over the Afghan government, usually as a result of government corruption,” it was reported as saying.

It said the Taliban were deliberately going soft in some areas to encourage Nato troops to leave faster, while doing local deals with the Afghan forces who take over.

Some in the Afghan security forces collaborated with the Taliban, selling arms and sharing intelligence, the report said.

Taliban call it ‘rumours’

The Taliban dismissed the Nato report as ‘rumours’.

“We have been hearing such rumours for the past 10 years. These are used as a propaganda tool,” their spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid told The Express Tribune in an email response to a query.

“We categorically reject the Nato report,” Mujahid said. “Our Jihad continues with the support of the Afghan people,” he added.“We will inflict a defeat on the enemy with the help of Allah Almighty.”

(Read: A thaw in Pak-Afghan ties?)

(with additional reporting by Tahir Khan in Islamabad)

Published in The Express Tribune, February 2nd, 2012.

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			<title>Taliban deny plan for Saudi talks with Afghan govt</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/330368/taliban-deny-plan-for-saudi-talks-with-afghan-govt</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/330368/taliban-deny-plan-for-saudi-talks-with-afghan-govt#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 01 Feb 12 14:41:50 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[afp]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=330368</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Taliban negotiators have, however, begun preliminary discussions with the United States in Qatar.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[The Taliban, leading a 10-year insurgency in Afghanistan on Wednesday denied that they would soon hold talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government in Saudi Arabia.

"There is no truth in these published reports saying that the delegation of the Islamic Emirate would meet with representatives of the Karzai government in Saudi Arabia in the near future," the Taliban said on their website.

Afghan officials, requesting anonymity, had suggested that the two sides would hold talks in Saudi Arabia separate from planned negotiations in Qatar between the Taliban and the United States.

But it was never clear whether the Taliban, who have so far resisted talks with the Afghan government, or the Saudis, who have conditioned involvement on the Taliban renouncing al Qaeda, would come on board.

Taliban negotiators have begun preliminary discussions with the United States in Qatar on plans for peace talks aimed at ending the decade-long war.

They have also announced plans to set up an office in Doha.

On Wednesday, the Taliban said they had not yet "reached the negotiation phase with the US and its allies".

"Before there are negotiations there should be a trust-building phase, which has not begun yet," the statement on its website said.

A day earlier, a government spokesman in Kabul cautioned that no steps had been taken to start talks in Saudi Arabia.

"The Afghan government is very clear on talks, we have always preferred Saudi to Qatar," Akim Hasher, head of the Government Media and Information Centre, told AFP.

"There is a possibility that the talks will take place in Saudi as well; Qatar is definitely not the only option."

On Monday, an Afghan diplomat based in Riyadh said talks would be held in Saudi Arabia, but stopped short of announcing any date.

A member of the Taliban's leadership council told AFP on Sunday that "the idea" that the Taliban should have a point of contact in Saudi Arabia was being pushed by the Pakistan and Afghan governments.

Analysts have warned that any move to open a second front in peace talks was being driven by fear in Kabul of being sidelined and could sow confusion in the tentative process of "talking about talks" to end the devastating conflict.

"When you have all these different players trying to open up talks with the Taliban it might look to the Taliban like a deliberate ploy, an attempt to divide and rule or to get some advantage," said analyst Kate Clark.]]>
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			<title>Pakistan denies hidden agenda, Taliban deny talks</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/330313/pakistan-has-no-hidden-agenda-in-afghanistan-khar</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/330313/pakistan-has-no-hidden-agenda-in-afghanistan-khar#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 01 Feb 12 11:11:18 +0500</pubDate>
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			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category><category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[We have no hidden agenda, Khar tells reporters after meeting with President Hamid Karzai.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Pakistan Wednesday rejected accusations that it was secretly supporting Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan, while the Taliban denied plans for peace talks with the Afghan government in Saudi Arabia.

The statements came as a leaked NATO report charged that Pakistan's security services were backing the Taliban militia, who consider victory inevitable once Western combat troops leave in 2014.

The leak was spectacularly bad timing for Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, who was in Kabul for the first time since taking office last year in a bid to thaw frosty ties between the two neighbours.

"We have no hidden agenda in Afghanistan," Khar told reporters after meeting President Hamid Karzai. "These claims have been made many, many times. Pakistan stands behind any initiative that the Afghan government takes for peace."

The Taliban chose the same day to deny that they would soon hold talks with Karzai's government in Saudi Arabia to end the decade-long war since they were toppled by a US-led invasion in 2001.

"There is no truth in these published reports saying that the delegation of the Islamic Emirate would meet with representatives of the Karzai government in Saudi Arabia in the near future," the Taliban said on their website.

Afghan officials had suggested that talks in Saudi Arabia would be in addition to contacts in Qatar between the Taliban and the United States.

But it was never clear whether the Taliban, who have resisted talks with the Afghan government, or the Saudis, who have conditioned involvement on the Taliban renouncing al Qaeda, would come on board.

Taliban negotiators have begun preliminary discussions with the United States in Qatar on plans for peace talks aimed at ending the war.

But they said in their statement Wednesday that they had not yet "reached the negotiation phase with the US and its allies".

"Before there are negotiations there should be a trust-building phase, which has not begun yet," the statement said.

One of the Taliban's demands is for the United States to free five of its leaders from detention in the US military prison in Guantanamo Bay.

The leaked NATO report - seen by The Times newspaper and the BBC - was compiled from information gleaned from insurgent detainees and was given to NATO commanders in Afghanistan last month.

The "State of the Taliban" document claims that Islamabad, via the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency, is "intimately involved" with the insurgency and that the Taliban assume victory is inevitable once Western troops leave in 2014.

Pakistan's foreign minister said "we consider any threat to Afghanistan's independence and sovereignty as a threat to Pakistan's existence.

"Pakistan and Afghanistan need to look forward to a relationship based on trust."

Afghan Foreign Minister Zalmai Rasoul told the same news conference: "There will be no peace in the region if there is no serious regional cooperation.

"Pakistan plays a key role in Afghan peace process. I hope Ms Rabani's visit is the beginning of a good relationship between our two countries."

Kabul government officials declined immediate comment on the report.

Khar's Afghanistan trip to 'mark new cooperation phase'

Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar's meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai on a one-day visit to Kabul Wednesday aimed at warming frosty ties between the two neighbours.

"This visit will mark a new cooperation phase between the two countries," Afghan foreign ministry spokesman Janan Mosazai told reporters ahead of what will be Khar's first visit to Afghanistan since taking office in July.

Kabul, which accuses Islamabad of supporting the 10-year Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan, put relations on ice after the September murder of its peace envoy Burhanuddin Rabbani, which one Afghan minister blamed on Pakistani spies.

The Kabul government said the bomber who killed Rabbani was a Pakistani and accused the Pakistani government of hindering the investigation.

"After the death of Rabbani we boycotted some of the bilateral and trilateral meetings (including the US) with Pakistan," a senior official in Karzai's office told AFP.

"This visit is aimed at improving our relations as well as at resuming those meetings."

In December, Pakistan boycotted the Bonn conference on the future of Afghanistan to protest against US air strikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers along the porous Afghan border on November 26.

Khar meets her Afghan counterpart Zalmai Rasoul and Karzai amid tentative moves towards negotiations in Qatar between Washington and the Taliban, who were ousted from power by the 2001 US-led invasion.

Karzai has given his blessing to the Taliban opening a political office in the Gulf state, but is wary of being sidelined and has insisted that his government has a central role in any peace talks.

In Islamabad, foreign ministry spokesman Abdul Basit said Khar's talks would cover "the security situation in Afghanistan and the reconciliation process".

"We hope the visit would further enhance mutual understanding on major issues and bring the two countries closer," he told AFP.

Pakistani analyst Rahimullah Yusufzai said Khar's trip was important because it is her first to Afghanistan and comes after a gap in Pakistani official visits to Kabul, the last of which were soon after Rabbani's murder.

He said both governments "feel a bit left out" of the Qatar negotiations and "would be trying at least to find out what is happening and maybe try to coordinate their own policies accordingly".

But he said many problems between the two countries remain unresolved, including the Rabbani assassination, adding: "I don't expect any real breakthrough at these talks."]]>
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			<title>Leaked NATO report claims to expose direct links between ISI, Taliban</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/330229/leaked-nato-report-claims-to-expose-direct-links-between-isi-and-taliban</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/330229/leaked-nato-report-claims-to-expose-direct-links-between-isi-and-taliban#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 31 Jan 12 22:30:39 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[Leaked report, based on thousands of interrogations, claims that Pakistan manipulates Taliban leadership unabatedly.]]>
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				<![CDATA[A secret NATO report claims to "fully expose" direct links between Pakistan's Inter Sevices Intelligence (ISI) and the Taliban, the BBC reported early on Wednesday.

The leaked report has been derived from thousands of interrogations of captured Taliban, al Qaeda and other foreign fighters and civilians.

According to the BBC, the leaked report notes "Pakistan manipulation of the Taliban senior leadership continues unabatedly."

It goes on to add "as this report is derived directly from insurgents, it should be considered informational and not necessarily analytical."

The BBC report cited its correspondent in Kabul, Quentin Sommerville, who called the report "painful reading" for international forces fighting in Afghanistan, and the Afghan government.

Pakistan has denied it has any links with the Taliban, but maintains that solution to the region is an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace process.

The report claims that Pakistan and its ISI intelligence agency are aware of the locations of senior Taliban leaders.

“ISI officers tout the need for continued jihad and expulsion of foreign invaders from Afghanistan.”

The Times newspaper, which also saw the report, quoted it as saying the Taliban’s “strength, motivation, funding and tactical proficiency remains intact”, despite setbacks in 2011.

“Many Afghans are already bracing themselves for an eventual return of the Taliban,” it said.

“Once (Nato force) ISAF is no longer a factor, Taliban consider their victory inevitable.”

Kabul, which accuses Islamabad of supporting the 10-year Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan, put relations on ice after the September murder of its peace envoy Burhanuddin Rabbani, which one Afghan minister blamed on Pakistani spies.

The US Department of Defense said it could not comment on the report but set out its fears about Pakistan and its influence in Afghanistan.

“We have not seen the report, and therefore cannot offer comment on it specifically,” Pentagon spokesman George Little told AFP.

“We have long been concerned about ties between elements of the ISI and some extremist networks.”

US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta “has also been clear that he believes that the safe havens in Pakistan remain a serious problem and need to be addressed by Pakistani authorities.”

In its conclusion, the report said there had been unprecedented interest in joining the Taliban cause in 2011 – even from members of the Afghan government.

“Afghan civilians frequently prefer Taliban governance over the Afghan government, usually as a result of government corruption,” it was reported as saying.

The Times, in an editorial, said Pakistan was “actively hindering reconciliation” between the Taliban and Kabul.

“Islamabad appears to be engaged in a systematic effort to destabilise the Kabul government of (President) Hamid Karzai prior to the withdrawal of Western forces, and to assist those attacking and killing those forces.

“The ISI emerges from this document looking considerably more villainous, even, than the Taliban itself.

“The picture that is painted is very much one of a force that both expects, and is widely expected, to have a big stake in controlling the Afghanistan of the future.”]]>
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			<title>Grossman expects vibrant, respectful Pak-US relationship despite review</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/330159/grossman-expects-vibrant-respectful-pak-us-relationship-despite-review</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/330159/grossman-expects-vibrant-respectful-pak-us-relationship-despite-review#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 31 Jan 12 21:15:37 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[The important thing is that Afghans talk to Afghans, says the US special envoy.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Calling the parliamentary review of Islamabad's ties with the US as Pakistan's right as a sovereign country, US special envoy Marc Grossman has expressed hope that the two countries will be able to forge a wide-ranging relationship based on mutual interests and respect.

"I hope that whatever review comes out and whatever conversation follows the review, that we can have a respectful relationship, and an active relationship," Grossman told Voice of America's Urdu Service in an interview on Tuesday.

The special envoy, who has just returned from a visit to the Middle East and South Asia, after Pakistan denied him permission to visit. cited counter-terrorism, Afghanistan and many other fields of mutual interest as areas where the two countries can cooperate.

Grossman said that the US very much wants a respectful relationship with Pakistan.

"The most important thing I will say to the people of Pakistan is that we respect the people of Pakistan. That is why we are pursuing policies such as civilian assistance, support for the democratic government and this idea that we ought to be able to find our shared interests together and act on them together.”

Grossman further said, "My message to the people of Pakistan is that we ought to be able to go back to the (relationship of) mutual respect."

While not confirming that the US is talking to the Taliban at this point, Grossman did say that Washington was using all of its "contacts in the region" in order to get Afghans talking to Afghans.

He disagreed with the contention that the US is sidelining anyone in the Afghan reconciliation process.

Commenting on a New York Times story that the Karzai government feels left out and is starting a parallel track with the Taliban in Saudi Arabia, Grossman called it 'wrong' and added that how the Afghans talk to each other is 'their business.'

"However this takes place, wherever this takes place, the important thing is that Afghans talk to Afghans," he reiterated.

Ambassador Grossman reiterated the State Department's position that the US wants to talk itself 'out of a job' by getting the Afghans to talk to each other.  Grossman said that there was still work to be done in terms of opening an office in Qatar but it is a good idea because this is where both the Taliban and the Afghan government will be most comfortable initially.  However, he called it an 'interim arrangement' and felt that the final Taliban office and the center of talks should be in Kabul.]]>
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