UN head in Afghanistan hears peace offer from Taliban-linked militant group
By APThursday, March 25, 2010
UN head in Afghanistan meets with militant group
KABUL — The top U.N. official in Afghanistan met Thursday with a delegation from a Taliban-linked militant group that has extended a peace offer to the Afghan government.
It is the first time that high-ranking representatives of warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar’s group have traveled to Kabul to discuss peace. It’s uncertain whether the talks will lead to an endgame in the 8-year-old war. The group is demanding that foreign troops leave Afghanistan a year ahead of President Barack Obama’s plan to begin a withdrawal in July 2011.
In a statement, the U.N. said Staffan de Mistura listened to the delegation’s peace offer and indicated that “their visit to Kabul and the ongoing discussions with Afghan authorities further underscored the importance of Afghan-led dialogue in order to bring stability to this country.”
Separately at the U.N., the organization’s human rights unit called Thursday for the repeal of a law that would give blanket amnesty to people who have committed human rights violations in Afghanistan. The law was officially published in December 2008, but news about the new law taking effect did not surface until earlier this year, prompting outrage from Afghan and international human rights activists.
Norah Niland, representative of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights in Afghanistan, said the law relieves Afghan authorities of their obligation to investigate and prosecute those who are allegedly responsible for gross violations of human rights.
“It ignores the grievances of victims and denies them access to justice,” Niland said. “This law also sends the wrong message to victims who have repeatedly called for justice and the removal of human rights violators from public office.”
She said the law was likely to undermine reconciliation efforts with insurgents because at a minimum, there needed to be an acknowledgment of grave injustices that have occurred in Afghanistan.
Talks of reconciliation have done nothing to quell violence.
NATO said Thursday that an investigation was under way into the death of two civilians who were hit by shrapnel during fighting that began after insurgents attacked a joint NATO and Afghan Border Police base in eastern Afghanistan. Four other civilians were wounded in the incident in Bak district of Khost province. The exact cause of the casualties was not known, NATO said.
