Apóllōn
FULL MEMBER
- Joined
- Jun 29, 2012
- Messages
- 115
- Reaction score
- 0
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) Moderate Taliban figures have expressed interest in the fragile peace process, the outgoing U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan said Thursday, referring to a deal that appears even more elusive with this summer's rash of suicide attacks and bombings.
Ryan Crocker, who is retiring a year earlier than expected, also said he thinks it's unlikely that the departure of most foreign troops by 2014 will plunge the country into another civil war or prompt a precipitous economic slide.
Afghanistan has a history of conflict between warring ethnic factions. Pashtuns, who predominantly make up the Taliban, are the majority ethnic group in the country and have strongholds in the south. Minority factions, including the Hazaras, Uzbeks and Tajiks, are more firmly rooted in the north. Members of all the groups are part of the Afghan security forces, but some fear without the presence of international troops, the nation and its police force and army could split along ethnic lines, prompting another civil war.
The ambassador acknowledged that northern Afghanistan has a lot of militias, but said he didn't think they threatened national unity. "I think their primary interest has been criminal activity, rather than preparing for the next civil war, which I really don't see coming," he said.
Crocker, an Arabic speaker and six-time ambassador who also ran embassies in Iraq, Pakistan, Kuwait, Lebanon and Syria, came out of an earlier retirement in 2011 to take the helm of the embassy at President Barack Obama's request.
On prospects for peace talks with the Taliban, Crocker said moderate Taliban figures like Agha Jan Motasim were "sending out feelers." Motasim, one of the most powerful men on the Taliban leadership council, told the AP in May that a majority of the Taliban want a peace settlement and that the movement has only a few hard-liners.
Asked if these Taliban leaders some of whom are based in Pakistan were worried about getting killed by the hard-liners, Crocker replied "Yep." He said Pakistan is believed to have given some safe passage to attend reconciliation discussions.
"Let me just put it this way. We are certainly aware that senior Taliban figures have made their way to third countries. Exactly how they did that, I can't say, but I'd like to assume that they did so with Pakistanis not interfering."
AP Interview: Moderate Taliban want peace, US says - Asia news
Ryan Crocker, who is retiring a year earlier than expected, also said he thinks it's unlikely that the departure of most foreign troops by 2014 will plunge the country into another civil war or prompt a precipitous economic slide.
Afghanistan has a history of conflict between warring ethnic factions. Pashtuns, who predominantly make up the Taliban, are the majority ethnic group in the country and have strongholds in the south. Minority factions, including the Hazaras, Uzbeks and Tajiks, are more firmly rooted in the north. Members of all the groups are part of the Afghan security forces, but some fear without the presence of international troops, the nation and its police force and army could split along ethnic lines, prompting another civil war.
The ambassador acknowledged that northern Afghanistan has a lot of militias, but said he didn't think they threatened national unity. "I think their primary interest has been criminal activity, rather than preparing for the next civil war, which I really don't see coming," he said.
Crocker, an Arabic speaker and six-time ambassador who also ran embassies in Iraq, Pakistan, Kuwait, Lebanon and Syria, came out of an earlier retirement in 2011 to take the helm of the embassy at President Barack Obama's request.
On prospects for peace talks with the Taliban, Crocker said moderate Taliban figures like Agha Jan Motasim were "sending out feelers." Motasim, one of the most powerful men on the Taliban leadership council, told the AP in May that a majority of the Taliban want a peace settlement and that the movement has only a few hard-liners.
Asked if these Taliban leaders some of whom are based in Pakistan were worried about getting killed by the hard-liners, Crocker replied "Yep." He said Pakistan is believed to have given some safe passage to attend reconciliation discussions.
"Let me just put it this way. We are certainly aware that senior Taliban figures have made their way to third countries. Exactly how they did that, I can't say, but I'd like to assume that they did so with Pakistanis not interfering."
AP Interview: Moderate Taliban want peace, US says - Asia news
as their azzes have been squeezed for oil by the taliban 
