Pakistan arrests ended UN talks with Taliban: ex-UN envoy

[pkd]

US “gratified” by Pakistani arrests of Taliban leaders


WASHINGTON: The United States is “extremely gratified” that Pakistan has arrested key Taliban leaders, US special envoy Richard Holbrooke said on Friday when asked to comment on a former UN official’s statement that the arrests had squandered Afghan peace efforts.
At a briefing at the State Department on the US-Pakistan strategic dialogue, Mr Holbrooke also indicated greater US interests in helping Pakistan overcome the grave energy crisis that has paralysed the Pakistani economy.

“These will be very broad and very complex” talks, said Mr Holbrooke when asked if the US would also consider Pakistan’s request for nuclear reactors for producing electricity.

Mr Holbrooke came to the briefing from the White House where he attended a meeting of senior US officials who will participate in the strategic dialogue with Pakistan.

He described the forthcoming talks as the most important ever between the two countries and also said that the level of participation would be higher than ever before.

Mr Holbrooke confirmed that Gen Ashfaq Kayani, US Secretary of Defence Robert Gates, Chairman of Joints Chiefs of Staff Adm Mike Mullen and other military officials will participate in the dialogue. Pakistan, he said, was also sending its director general for military operations. The DGMO usually focuses on India and his participation indicates that relations between the two neighbours may also figure prominently in the talks.

But one issue that got immediate attention emerged from a statement earlier on Friday by Kai Eide, the former UN special representative to Afghanistan. In an interview to BBC, he said that the arrest of key Taliban leaders in Pakistan blocked a secret channel of communications between the United Nations and the militant Afghan group.

“We are extremely gratified that Pakistan apprehended the number two (Taliban leader) and others,” said Mr Holbrooke when asked if the US supported the move. He said the arrests brought “more pressure” on the Taliban than before and the move was “good for the military operation” in Afghanistan.

Mr Holbrooke’s statement differs sharply from Mr Eide’s who claimed that the detentions had a “negative” effect on attempts to find a political solution to the eight-year-old Afghan war.
DAWN.COM | Front Page | US ?gratified? by Pakistan arrest of Taliban leaders

 

[kidwaibhai]

Eide "greatly exaggerating" Taliban talks, former deputy says
​

Former U.N. representative in Afghanistan Kai Eide is greatly exaggerating his new claims that he had months of discussions with senior Taliban leaders, his former top deputy tells The Cable.

"He was not meeting with senior Taliban leaders," said Peter Galbraith, who was Eide's No. 2 and close friend until Eide fired him for raising questions about the U.N.'s lack of action over the massive election fraud perpetrated by President Hamid Karzai's government last September, in an interview. "He's greatly exaggerating."

Galbraith, who was aware of the meetings but did not participate in them, said that they were with lower-level people who may or may not have had ties to the Taliban.

"The meetings were not particularly often and it was never clear where these people stood and what their connections were to the Taliban," he said, suggesting they might have been disgruntled former Taliban associates.

Galbraith also rejected Eide's contention that the recent arrests of Afghan Taliban leaders by the Pakistani military was the reason the talks broke down, as Eide claims.

"The discussions ended when he left UNAMA," he said, referring to the removal of Eide by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in December. "The arrests have nothing to do with it."

Galbraith is clearly no disinterested observer, but Special Representative Richard Holbrooke also said Friday that the recent arrests and the drive to pursue reconciliation with the Taliban have nothing to do with each other.

"We are extremely gratified that the Pakistani government has apprehended the No. 2 person in the Afghan Taliban ... this is a good thing," Holbrooke said. "It's not related [to reconciliation] ... We don't see this as linked."

The U.S. government was aware of Eide's discussions. "He had mentioned this to us in a general way," Holbrooke said, responding to questions posed by The Cable at a Friday press conference, adding that there was no U.S. involvement in the talks.

Holbrooke had called the press conference to discuss the next week's landmark meetings between the United States and Pakistan in Washington, the first round of the new "strategic dialogue" between the two countries.

"It's a major intensification of our partnership," said Holbrooke. "This is not a photo op ... this is an intense, serious dialogue between the U.S. and Pakistan."

The Pakistani delegation will be led by Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and will also include Defense Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar, incoming Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, Army Chief of Staff Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, Prime Minister Zardari's advisor Wazir Ali, Ambassador to Washington Husain Haqqani, and many others.

The U.S. contingent will be led by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and will include Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Holbrooke, U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan Anne Patterson, Deputy Secretary of State Jack Lew, NSC Senior Director David Lipton, USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah, Under Secretary of Defense Michèle Flournoy, and many others.

The trilateral dialogue between the United States, Afghanistan, and Pakistan will still go on and another meeting could come later this year, according to Holbrooke. Holbrooke is headed back to the region next week, stopping off in Brussels before going on to Afghanistan. He was going to stop in Pakistan but that became unnecessary because the Pakistanis are coming to Washington, he said.

The question of how to disperse billions of dollars of new aid to Pakistan, a point of contention between Holbrooke and Senate leaders, was discussed during a high-level meeting at the White House Friday morning, Holbrooke said, where "almost every senior person in the United States foreign policy community was in the room."

Eide "greatly exaggerating" Taliban talks, former deputy says | The Cable

 

[Spring Onion]

Ahhh thank you mr deputy you have exposed the true face of Eide

 

[pkd]

No talks held with UN envoy: Taliban

PESHAWAR: The Afghan Taliban dismissed on Saturday claims of former UN representative to Afghanistan Kai Eide that he had had contacts with key Taliban leaders before militant leaders were arrested in Pakistan.

“No Taliban official or representative has ever met or held talks with Mr Eide,” the Peshawar-based Afghan Islamic Press quoted Qari Mohammad Yousaf Ahmadi, spokesman for the Taliban, as saying.

“We don’t know what objective Mr Eide wants to achieve by telling such lies. Taliban held no negotiations with Kai Eide or any other UN official,” he said.

Asked if the Taliban had held talks with Saudi Arabia or any other country, the spokesman said: “No, there is no change in our stance.”

Mr Eide told BBC that he had been in contact with the Taliban since last spring, but the arrest of Taliban leaders in Pakistan had closed a secret channel of communications with the United Nations.

He claimed that the arrest of Taliban leader Mulla Abdul Ghani Baradar in Pakistan was aimed at stopping the dialogue process.

Pakistan has rejected Mr Eide’s claim.

US special envoy Richard Holbrooke said his country was “gratified” for arrests in Pakistan of senior Taliban leaders.

Well-informed sources told Afghan Islamic Press that Agha Jan Mutasim, a former official of Taliban political affairs, had held talks with some people without permission of the Taliban shura, which led to his sacking seven months ago. They said Agha Mutasim held no post in the Taliban at the time of his arrest in Karachi last month.

A number of Taliban leaders, including its deputy chief Mulla Baradar and Agha Mutasim, are in the custody of Pakistani security forces and the Afghan government has sought their extradition.

Defence Minister Ahmad Mukhtar has said that Afghan Taliban leaders will have to face Pakistani courts before their extradition to Afghanistan.

A court recently barred their deportation to Afghanistan on a writ petition filed by a former officer of an intelligence agency.
DAWN.COM | Front Page | No talks held with UN envoy: Taliban

 

[Awesome]

Seems like the people engaged with the Taliban are keeping all options open. If there is a breakthrough with the arrests that Pak made, they'll claim that it was a joint operation. If things go south they'll say Pakistan didn't play the role they should have.

 

[freeman]

I think Eide might be a bit of a bitter and twisted man knowing his history.....but doesnt anybody think these arrests are a bit strange?
Pakistan has been after these guys for years then to arrest over a dozen prominent members over a 2 week period, mmmm bit strange.

Heres what i think- The UN and US have always had different ideas for Afghanistan. Pakistan has been playing its cards close to its chest awaiting certain outcomes.
Nobody seems to be on the same page and each side is trying to achieve an outcome bests suited to their national interest.
Im thinking the US has dangled a pretty large carrot in front of Pakistan or Pakistan has initiated a policy change, for whatever reason.
Just like all news relating to the conflict, you need to read between the lines of just about news coming out of the region

 

[PurJosh]

What if US had nothing to do with these arrests? Now, do they have any other choice but not to praise Pakistan?

What if US and UN both were in contact with talebans and keeping Pakistan aside?

These arrests can surely put pakistan back in the loop.
Either involve pakistan or go to hell...win win or no one wins

these are just my thoughts btw!

 

[Ifti1950]

Isn't it funny that we are told , time and again by USA and the other world powers "TO DO MORE" and when we start arresting the Talibans USA and its maid servant "UNO" starts screaming that Pakistan hasn't done the right thing????.
They should make up their mind once and for all.

 

[rohailmalhi]

U know these people they are 2 face hypocrites.If u dont get Talibans thy say y dont u get thm and whn we arrest there main leader sum of thm says tht Y did u arrested those freaking taliban leaders it will damage our blah blah peace process.

Wht do they actually expect from Pakistan.

 

[iPhone]

Pakistan dirupted peace talks by arresting baradar. So, I guess there are good Taliban then.