Adviser to PM believes Taliban leadership has not authorised Mullah Baradar to open consultations.
ISLAMABAD:
Despite Pakistan’s efforts to facilitate talks between the Afghan High Peace Council and the Afghan Taliban, the group is unwilling to enter into negotiation, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said on Saturday.
“The Afghan Taliban have a principled stance that they do not recognise the government in Kabul and the constitution,” Aziz told The Express Tribune on the conclusion of the Pakistan-Afghanistan conference in the capital.
“There is a need for increased informal contacts with them [Taliban] as most of their leaders are in Afghanistan and in Qatar, and the Afghan government can approach them,” he added.
“We do not have control over the Afghan Taliban. We have been urging them for a long time to talk to the High Peace Council but they do not accept our requests,” Aziz said.
Asked about the possible relocation of the Taliban office from Qatar, he said the venue was not important. He said the new office could come up in ‘Turkey or Saudi Arabia’ but that the important facet was that they agree to talk.
He confirmed that High Peace Council’s members met former Taliban chief strategist Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar in Pakistan last month. “They [Afghan council] met him but later said he [Baradar] was not feeling well so they were unable to hold detailed talks. I think Mullah Baradar had no permission from his leadership to talk,” Aziz said.
“Meetings with Mullah Baradar will be useful when the Taliban leadership allows and gives him authority to talk on their behalf,” he added.
Asked why Mullah Baradar has not yet been allowed to rejoin his family like the 50 other freed Taliban detainees in one year, he said President Hamid Karzai had insisted that Mullah Baradar could play a role in the reconciliation process when he is accessible.
“If he [Mullah Baradar] is inaccessible, he will not be traced and that is why we have kept the situation as per the expectations of the Afghan government,” Aziz said.
He pointed out that the Afghan negotiators could have access to Mullah Baradar and insisted that he is allowed visits by family members. “But we provide him security and cannot let him go,” he said.
“Pakistan has also in principle agreed to allow Mullah Baradar to go abroad if Afghanistan agrees,” the adviser said.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 15th, 2013.
COMMENTS (27)
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@Bakhtiyar do pasthuns not have representation and honor right now? What more do you want? Also, are you saying all pasthuns support taliban?
@Bakhtiyar Ghazi Khan: BTW, of course you meant include Pakistan in your list of "other people interfering in Afghan's lives"!
They won't talk until all foreign forces leave Afghanistan. It's a legitimate demand. This includes US, NATO, Indians, Israelis, and all other people interfering in Afghan's lives. Until Pukhtoons are given their legitimate rights and honor in Afghanistan, then they will not give up fighting. It's common sense.
@p r sharma: Will of power matters a lot, alas, there is lack of will and our elected rulers even some of elected represenatives dont want to draw a clear line -----------thus hawkish is always there.
@Ahmed: and they killing people //MORE DRONE USA PLZ.
What this present government of PML-N in Pakistan wants is:
(1) They want Afghan Talibans to control and rule Afghanistan. (2) They want to control TTP in Pakistan. (3) They think TTP can control the Afghan talibans. (4) They think they can control Afghanistan through TTP controlled Afghan talibans.
Many old to-the-core jihadists like Sartaj Aziz and Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan have exactly the same mindset like Hamid Gul and Pakistan's army commanders. All of them do it out of fear for TTP. Cowardliness and complicity is what you will see at the core of all actions of Pakistan, its army and die-hard jihadists who are in the PML-N government. Nawaz Sharif may be having different thoughts but he is confused and unable to change course of the army or give a new direction to his party.
No one is able to realize that all countries in the region that includes Iran, China, India and Russia want all factions of talibans to be eliminated from the region, which is also what Afghans want. US also wants the same. Pakistan's new army general is as powerless and as cowardly like Kayani.
"We do not have control over the Afghan Taliban. We have been urging them for a long time to talk to the High Peace Council but they do not accept our requests,” Aziz said. And you have control over the Pakistani Taliban, right? pathetic statement about control.
Stop playing your games Mr Aziz, Pakistan has already paid a heavy price for its backing of the Taliban. All the Taliban leaders are well kept in safe houses so if they do not listen to you why do you not formally arrest them and repatriate them to Afghanistan, where the Afghans can decide their fate. The sooner Pakistan can get rid of those who have sunk it into a hole and continue to claim ignorance or innocence, the better off the country will be. If Pakistan cannot bring the Taliban under their protection to the table, they will have no reason to feel miffed if they are sidelined and not consulted on Afghanistan.
@Nikki: but Pakistan govt. does respect TTP and also begs for talk.
Anyone surprised? Pakistan has been blowing it's horn about it's influence on the Afghan Taliban - implying that it had control through it's policy of sanctuary. The reality is that control has always belonged to the Taliban as Pakistan is both afraid and unable to confront/defeat them.
US decides the policies of Pakistan and now this job is being intended by Chacha China to grab . The day this will be decided in collaboration with India , Iran ,and Afghanistan , it is only then you can think of a self sustaining Pakistan . Slavery is your destiny . Bear it ,.......
Indians, don't decide the policies of Pakistan or Afghanistan. It is none of your business. Your comments are not welcome.
Peace in the region can only come if all the parties [including Pakistan] says goodbye to America. So long as America has a foothold in the region, peace and tranquility will never return because the American government is really a war machine.
Pakistan should mind its own business. Pakistan should first let Taliban rule Pakistan to fix its own problems.
@Nikki:
Begging for talk cannot be useful, let them request for talk. I am unable to understand why your government is so keen to talk thos have destroyed Pakistan? What is the Government's weakness ? If taliban are not ready then the state should act as a state not as an actor, every sane person will get what I meant.
@Ahmed: Afghan taliban are being discussed here not TTP.
Second phase of war with Taliban is a must in Afghanistsn . Without war talk is not going to yield any solution .
anybody else wants to talk to you? No! no one.
He is absolutely right. Tali ban are not interested in talks and one of their precondition is that foreign occupation forces leave Afghanistan
Poor sirtaj whatever he says it seems that he cooked things by himself. I consider this person unworthy of anything he says or do. What taliban says or want, they had their own sources and people to say to the world. Mr. sirtaj words are mere gossips.
When Mullah Baradar is under house arrest, how will he be authorized by anyone. He was imprisoned by Pakistan in 2010 precisely to stall peace talks. All the complaints about how much the IS war on terror has cost Pakistan sound lame when there was a deliberate attempt made to extend it by mprisoning people wo could. Facilitate in bringing it to an end.
Just last week you published a story (see here) claiming that negotiations with the Taliban are making progress and now we have a report that the Taliban refuse to talk.
Makes no sense.
Why would someone talk from such a strong position? Taliban knows they have time and stretagy in their hands while the rest are out of time in afghanistan..
This guy is good, he's really good.
Among so many hypocrites, it is risky to trust anyone, in such a state One will always stick to its own rule of game.
Respect them and dont beg to talk please.