Big mediator: China offers to broker stalled Afghan talks with Taliban

[JSCh]

Big mediator: China offers to broker stalled Afghan talks with Taliban — RT News
Published time: February 13, 2015 05:06

China has offered its help to the Afghan government in mediating the long-stalled efforts to negotiate a peace deal with the militant Taliban group.

“We will support the Afghan government in realizing reconciliation with various political factions including the Taliban,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters after arriving in the Pakistani capital Islamabad for a two-day visit. The goal of the trip was to highlight historical ties between China and Pakistan.

Wang added on Thursday that he believes Pakistan has a “strong will to take a constructive part in the resolution of this matter.” The Taliban uses the Afghan-Pakistani border region as a safe haven, and years of attempted talks with the militants have proven fruitless.

The US welcomed China’s efforts: “The US and China have agreed to work together to support Afghanistan’s government of national unity, security forces and economic development to ensure that Afghanistan can never again be used as a safe haven for terrorists,” US State Department official told Reuters.

Pakistan asked the US to reduce drone strikes amid renewed Taliban peace talks at the beginning of February, the Washington Post reported citing anonymous US officials. The current pause in US airstrikes against suspected militants in Pakistan is the longest since 2011.

The Pakistani request came from the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s government, which has accused the US of attempting to derail Pakistan’s talks with the militants in the past.

A potential 2013 peace deal failed when a US drone strike killed former leader of the Pakistani Taliban’s leadership council (Shura), Hakimullah Mehsud, just days before Pakistan was scheduled to meet with the Taliban.

Following the strike, the summit was canceled, infuriating the Pakistani government, who called the US attack counter-productive. “The murder of Hakimullah is the murder of all efforts at peace,” Pakistan Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisa said. “Brick by brick, in the last seven weeks, we tried to evolve a process by which we could bring peace to Pakistan and what have you [the US] done?”

Shortly after, the Taliban announced revenge attacks saying negotiations were no longer an option, appointing Asmatullah Shaheen new interim Shura leader.

“The holding of peace talks is not even an issue to discuss - this government has no authority, it is not a sovereign government, it is a slave, a slave of America. Holding peace talks is a waste of time,” spokesman Shahidullah Shahid said.

Taliban talks also stalled while the US focused on withdrawing its troops from Afghanistan after America’s longest-ever overseas war, which began soon after 9/11 and officially wound down at the end of December.

Even though the war that has cost the US around $1 trillion so far is officially over, some 10,000 US troops will remain in Afghanistan through 2016, as part of a "Resolute Support Mission" assist program.

Despite the Obama administration making it clear the US war in Afghanistan was over, secret raids have surged in Afghanistan, The New York Times reported, citing American and Afghan officials.

Specifically, the US has stepped up clandestine operations since October, when Afghan intelligence officers and American Special Operations forces seized a laptop computer with files detailing Al-Qaeda operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan. This information has been used to carry out direct combat raids, according to the sources.

 

[JSCh]

In a Shift, Pakistan Pats Afghanistan on the Back
By SALMAN MASOOD, FEB. 12, 2015

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — In a sign of closer cooperation between often hostile neighbors, Pakistan’s military on Thursday credited Afghanistan with helping to capture the Taliban militants who orchestrated the attack on a Peshawar school in December that killed 150 people.

Maj. Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa, the Pakistani Army spokesman, told reporters that the Afghan security forces had captured six militants who had been linked to the attack. Afghanistan has also stepped up intelligence and military cooperation along the countries’ mutual border, he said.

The public acknowledgment contrasted sharply with the antagonistic relationship between the countries only last year, when Afghan officials accused Pakistan of cross-border shelling that killed Afghan civilians, and Pakistanis accused the Afghans of sheltering Taliban fugitives.

More-> http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/13/world/asia/pakistan-credits-afghanistan-in-arrest-of-militants-in-peshawar-attack.html

 

[WAJsal]

Good to see China getting involved,Afghanistan needs support of country such as China in such though times .

 

[JSCh]

The China-Pakistan Alliance: The Key to Afghan Stability? | The Diplomat
Can China promote peace in Afghanistan by nudging Kabul and Islamabad closer together?

By Shannon Tiezzi
February 11, 2015

On February 9, China’s assistant foreign minister, Liu Jianchao, joined his Afghan and Pakistani counterparts in Kabul for the first round of a new trilateral strategic dialogue. The dialogue, attended by Liu, Pakistani Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry, and Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister Hekmat Khalil Karzai provided a tantalizing glimpse of what trilateral cooperation between these neighbors could mean for Afghan stability.

As Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying noted in her press conference today, Afghanistan’s security situation was “a major topic” at the trilateral dialogue. All three countries “reaffirmed their commitment to [the] peace and stability of Afghanistan and the region” and China and Pakistan emphasized their support for a peace process “led and owned by the Afghans.”

Though the emphasis was on security, most of the deliverables from the meeting were actually in the economic realm, where China is most comfortable. China committed to helping build a hydro-electric dam on the Kunar River and to constructing new road and railroad connections between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Kunar dam, to be constructed within Afghanistan but close to the Pakistan border, is expected to provide electricity for both countries.

Indeed, the whole theme of the meeting seems to have been greater Afghan-Pakistani cooperation, facilitated by China. Afghanistan’s representatives at the talks specifically asked China to “play a constructive role in promoting bilateral interactions between Afghanistan and Pakistan,” according to Hua. China has a close relationship with Pakistan, often described as an “all-weather friendship.” Kabul hopes that China can use its unique ties with Islamabad to pressure Pakistan into playing a constructive role in Afghan security. Afghanistan in particular wants Pakistan to nudge the Afghan Taliban into negotiations over a true unity government – rather than supporting the group’s more militant ambitions.

Beijing itself hosted representatives from the Taliban last year, in what was widely read as an indication China is willing to play the role of mediator in negotiations. But Afghan officials believe that Pakistan will have to be at the table as well and they hope China can help convince its ally to join the negotiations in good faith. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will be in Islamabad later this week; Kabul will be watching closely.

U.S. officials interviewed by the Wall Street Journal believe that China is ready to become more politically involved in promoting Afghan security – both through mediation and through more concrete measures such as stepping up the training of Afghan troops. However, the recent trilateral dialogue mostly limited itself to economic commitments. Promoting economic projects that will link Afghanistan and Pakistan has undeniable political ramifications, but still relies on the tools (investment and aid) China has grown accustomed to using around the world.

Outside of economic deals, China, Pakistan, and Afghanistan committed to broadening their cooperation on counter-terrorism, but there are no specifics on how the countries will do so. All three countries have suffered from deadly terrorist attacks in the past year and remain concerned about the growing influence of jihadist militants groups (including not only the Talban but Islamic State, which has been ramping up its activities in the region as well).

 

[Sine Nomine]

China Getting Help from Afghan Taliban