Afghan peace plan: Taliban likely to be invited to OIC summit

Invitation sent to Afghan Peace Council for summit scheduled in March.

ISLAMABAD: In an effort to find a negotiated settlement to the Afghan imbroglio, the Taliban leadership is likely to be invited as observers to an Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) summit meeting scheduled in March in Saudi Arabia, The Express Tribune has learnt.

The OIC has already sent an invitation to the Afghan High Peace Council, led by Professor Burhanuddin Rabbani, which indicates that a negotiated settlement of the Afghan conflict will be on the agenda of the meeting to be presided over by Saudi monarch Abdullah bin Abdulaziz.

Talks between Saudi Arabia and the Afghan Taliban became possible only after it was established by the Saudi kingdom that the former has distanced himself from Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda network, a source told The Express Tribune.

According to reports, there is growing realisation among the Taliban that al Qaeda is the root cause of their problems. Now they are also convinced that their ideological struggle is  different from that of al Qaeda. Bin Laden’s network is ostensibly struggling for a pan-Islamic revolution, while the Taliban want foreign troops out of their country.

Reclusive Taliban leader Mullah Omar had told one of his visitors last year that he was shocked to know that al Qaeda was involved in the 9/11 apocalyptical attacks in the US.

In the past, Mullah Omar has defended al Qaeda against allegations that he and his network were responsible for the 9/11 attacks. And instead he saw a Zionist conspiracy behind the attacks.

A large number of al Qaeda activists have shifted to the North Waziristan tribal region, Yemen and Iraq after the Taliban refused to collaborate with al Qaeda in its struggle.

Saudi Arabia has been in contact with the Taliban since last year for a negotiated settlement of the Afghan crisis, the source said. And the talks made significant headway when the Saudis got a positive response from the Taliban.

Riyadh had taken the initiative after US President Barack Obama requested King Abdullah during his visit to Washington in June 2010 to play a role for reconciliation with the Taliban. The Obama administration supports Saudi mediation because both the US and Saudi Arabia see growing Iranian influence in Afghanistan with concern.

The Saudi monarch expressed his willingness to do Washington’s bidding but as a pre-condition he wanted to see the Afghan Taliban divorce the al Qaeda network. Apart from that Saudi Arabia, the US and Afghanistan also demanded that the Taliban snap ties with al Qaeda if they wanted to enter into peace talks.

Riyadh once had close ties with the Taliban regime that emerged victorious from Afghanistan’s civil war in the early 1990s. Pakistan legitimised Taliban rule by giving it diplomatic recognition in May 1997. And Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates followed suit.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 20^th,  2011.