File photo of Hamid Karzai. PHOTO: FILE
Beleaguered Afghan President Hamid Karzai has asserted he foiled “foreign conspiracies” in Qatar days after refusing to send members of his peace council to the gulf state for possible talks with the Taliban.
Speaking at his weekly radio address on Thursday, Karzai said the Qatar office was inaugurated in violation of “agreements”. Although Afghanistan and the United States had agreed on opening the office, the situation was different at the time of its formal inauguration, he claimed.
However, Karzai failed to mention who the conspirators were and what their plans had been.
The United States, Afghanistan, Qatar and the Taliban had been involved in a dialogue regarding the long-awaited opening of the Taliban office in Doha. Pakistan claims it has facilitated the process, but the country’s spokesperson could not give a direct reply explaining how exactly Islamabad facilitated the initiative.
Despite repeatedly calling for peace talks, Karzai was quick to raise a hue and cry when the office was inaugurated on June 18, alleging it was in place to install a parallel government.
The US-backed regime raised objections to the Taliban’s white flag and a plaque bearing the words ‘Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’, which corresponded to a name given to the country during the Taliban’s years in power.
In an angry reaction to the opening of the Taliban office, Karzai suspended talks on a long-term security deal to keep US troops in his country after Nato’s withdrawal in 2014. The president even accused Washington of duplicity in dealing with the Taliban.
Since the US is anxious to strike a deal ahead of the 2014 endgame, Karzai’s maneuver proved successful, forcing Washington to agree to whatever the Afghan regime said about the Taliban office.
Qatari authorities lowered the Taliban flag and removed the offensive plaque at the office while Karzai refused to join the peace initiative, dropping the idea of sending a delegation representing his High Peace Council. Exploratory talks with the US, which were reportedly scheduled a couple of days after the office’s inauguration, were also cancelled.
With the US more concerned about the suspension of talks on security pacts, President Barack Obama and President Karzai held a video conference. A statement issued by the White House on Tuesday read both heads of state remained “committed to holding talks with the Taliban at the group’s Qatar office” while US special envoy James Dobbins visited Kabul to allay the Afghan president’s concerns.
Taliban spokesperson in Qatar, Suhail Shaheen, meanwhile, has an entirely different view. Shaheen told The Express Tribune minor issues should not be allowed to derail prospects for long-term peace. He had also clarified the office was neither an embassy nor an attempt to form a parallel Afghan government.
But the Afghan government was annoyed when Taliban negotiators said they would speak to the US before holding talks with Afghanistan.
The logic behind the Taliban engaging the US in dialogue is valid, as some issues such as an end to the invasion, release of prisoners from Guantanamo Bay and removal of Taliban names from UN sanctions lists need to be discussed and resolved. The Afghan government is aware it does not have a role in these issues and therefore should not object to the Taliban’s desires to talk to the US.
But does Karzai have a valid point in insisting peace talks should be held inside Afghanistan or, failing that, should be Afghan-led? Most peace deals regarding Afghanistan have been struck outside the country, including installing an interim leader after the US used its military might to topple the Taliban government in December 2001.
Karzai served as Deputy Foreign Minister in the government of President Professor Burhanuddin Rabbani, which was installed as a result of the 2003 Islamabad Accord. Earlier, in 1992, when the communist regime of Dr Najibullah was dislodged, the Afghan jihadists agreed to the Peshawar Accord, which paved the way for the Islamic State of Afghanistan. Karzai also accompanied the first Mujahideen leaders into Kabul in 1992 following the Soviet withdrawal.
So Karzai himself has been part and parcel of several agreements signed outside Afghanistan. In fact, he was nominated as an interim leader for his country at the Bonn Conference in Germany after Operation Enduring Freedom. Given these facts, he should not scuttle talks, which may result in long-term peace in the war-torn country, over minor issues.
On the other hand, the Taliban will also have to review their stubborn stance against talking to their own countrymen.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 30th, 2013.
COMMENTS (7)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
Karzai is a true Afghan and has show that quality. way to go Karzai Sahab. Taliban office in Qatar is part of a bigger middle east game plan and should not be allowed to succeed. Americans are Saudis are playing dirty .
@Afghan Maihan: You know it that Karzai is the member of the powerful pashtun tribe and is very close to the Talibans. His reaction was nothing more than to reflect the objections of his non Pashtun cabinet members.and to appease non Pashtun supporters collaborators who are waitin for being given the asylum in the USA, whereas the UK government has already agreed to take six hundred Afghans with their famililies to thwart the possible Taliban reprisals.
Rex Minor
Mr Kayani should resign over fiasco in Qatar as he is the one who negotiated the Qatar deal with Mr. Kerry.
The days of signing agreements outside Afghanistan are over. Karzai has every right to ask for an Afghan led meeting brokered by Afghans and held in Afghanistan.
@ibn sina: my dear this idea had recently been propogated by Mr. Brahma Chelani of India.Never in the recent history any muslim country has advocated the partition of afghanistan.get your fact right before pointing fingers to others.
ET my god you guys are so biased!
Only in the last sentence you give some critique on Taliban's handling.
You as journalist(if you guys are journalist, because sometime i think you guys are just paid by Americans to promote wesern values, fashion and thinking. And in the mean time by being pakistanis your are automatically pro Pakistan in your thinking) should have done some homework before putting rubbish on your website. You don't know the fact that Karzai mentioned what the conspiracy was??
The conspiracy is to divide afghanistan into small state run by different warlords and the south should be ruled by taliban. Afghanistan has withstood many a such conspiracies by our so called muslim neighbour in the past and will withstand more conspiracies in the future.
Karzai has shown that he has a steel in his back. History will use this as an example for quality of his leadership. A campaign is underway to make him look unstable is nothing but noise. Qatar office was approved under different pretext and once opened the true intentions of double dealing by a country came out in the open. Soon after the talk three countries would have recognized the Qatar Office as regime in exile undermining the democratically elected government. In my opinion Qatar talks may not be dead but the Taliban office is dead for sure.