Taliban-linked group to meet with UN about its peace offer to the Afghan government
By Deb Riechmann, APWednesday, March 24, 2010
Taliban-linked group to meet with UN
KABUL — Representatives of a militant group linked to an infamous Afghan warlord are hoping to convince U.N. officials Thursday that it’s the right time for a peace deal with insurgents.
Mohammad Daoud Abedi, a spokesman for the Hizb-i-Islami faction, said Wednesday night that the United Nations asked the delegation for a meeting, which follows talks that the Taliban-linked group had with President Hamid Karzai earlier this week.
He said the group also plans to speak with representatives from the European Union, but an official at the EU office said he had no knowledge of any meeting with the delegation.
Talk about possible reconciliation with insurgent groups, however, has not reduced violence, especially in southern Afghanistan where a major military operation is under way to rout the Taliban from parts of Helmand province. NATO said two service members were killed Wednesday in a bombing, and another died as a result of small-arms attack, in the south.
It is the first time that high-ranking representatives of the insurgent group, led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, have traveled to Kabul to discuss peace. It’s uncertain whether the talks with Hekmatyar’s group will lead to an end game in the eight-year war, given the group’s demand for a quick exit of foreign forces.
Hizb-i-Islami wants international forces to begin withdrawing in July — a year ahead of President Barack Obama’s desired deadline to begin a pullout, if conditions allow. But Abedi said the group is flexible on that main point of its 15-point peace offer.
“That is a starting point,” Abedi said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. “If we start the process, we can be ready by another year or so.
“If President Obama wants the situation to be right for the withdrawal of the foreign forces from Afghanistan, he should start talking and taking some firm, honest steps to make the situation acceptable for that day. That’s why we are putting this proposal on the table, to say ‘If you really mean this, then let’s work and get this thing done.’”
U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden has said U.S. officials have no plans to meet with representatives of Hekmatyar’s group. Abedi said the delegation hoped European officials would persuade the U.S. government to get involved in the negotiations.
“The ball is in their court.” Abedi said. “If the U.S. government would like to leave in honor and leave something behind that the Afghan people and the international community would be proud and grateful for, it is good for them to expedite the peace process, get involved in the negotiations and bring out their concerns so we could answer them and together we could get this all done and bring this ugly war to an end.”
Hekmatyar’s power has waned over the years and he commands far fewer fighters than the Taliban. Nevertheless, Hizb-i-Islami is very active in at least four provinces of eastern Afghanistan and parts of the north. His defection from the insurgency would be a coup for Karzai and could encourage some Taliban commanders to explore their own peace deals.
Hekmatyar, who is in his 60s, was a major recipient of U.S. military aid during the war against the Soviets in the 1980s but fell out of favor with Washington because of his role in the civil war that followed the Soviet withdrawal. The U.S. government declared Hekmatyar a “global terrorist” in February 2003, saying he participated in and supported terror acts committed by al-Qaida and the Taliban.
The Taliban has publicly denounced Hizb-i-Islami’s peace offer, but Abedi said the two groups have a common goal.
“Taliban and Hizb-i-Islami both think that the presence of the foreign forces in Afghanistan is the cause of the war. So if we take away the cause, then what reason would Taliban or anybody else have to continue the war?” Abedi asked.
This month, a Karzai adviser and other Afghans involved in the peace process said the government had been holding secret talks the Taliban’s No. 2, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, when he was recently captured in Pakistan.
Maj. Gen. Gordon Messenger, a senior defense adviser for Britain and a former commander in Afghanistan, said he thinks reconciliation will work when the Taliban becomes more desperate.
“I think everyone recognizes that political reconciliation has a part to play in this … but I also think we can’t just sit there and do nothing,” Messenger said.
“It’s important that when you have reconciliation, you have both the carrot and the stick,” Messenger said. “Unless they feel in a weak position, unless they feel this stick hovering over their heads, they are far less likely to reconcile or negotiate.”
Associated Press Writer Anne Flaherty in Washington contributed to this report.
