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Talking to the Taliban

September 30, 2008

KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghan President Hamid Karzai said today he has asked the king of Saudi Arabia to help facilitate peace talks with the Taliban in order to bring an end to the Afghan conflict.

Karzai said there has not yet been any negotiations, only requests for help. But he said that Afghan officials have traveled to both Saudi Arabia and to Pakistan in hopes of ending the conflict.

"For the last two years, I've sent letters to the king of Saudi Arabia, and I've sent messages, and I requested from him as the leader of the Islamic world, for the security and prosperity of Afghanistan and for reconciliation in Afghanistan ... he should help us," Karzai said.

Speaking on the grounds of the presidential palace, where he gave his traditional message to Afghans for the Muslim religious holiday of Eid-al Fitr, Karzai said his government is trying to encourage militants to lay down arms.

He underscored that he has in the past reached out to fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Omar to "come back to your home soil and work for the happiness of the people."

Omar, meanwhile, released his own Eid message and launched a barrage of accusations against Afghanistan's security forces, calling them thieves, smugglers and criminals not worthy of people's trust.

Omar's message did not include any indication of willingness to talk to Karzai's government. Instead, it called again on foreign troops to leave the country.

According to Agence France Presse, Omar offered international forces a safe retreat from Afghanistan if they agree to withdraw.

"I say to the invaders: if you leave our country, we will provide you the safe context to do so," Omar said, adding that if western troops did not leave they would be defeated, as was the Soviet Union in the 1980s.


A former senior Taliban official told The Associated Press last week that the militants do not consider Karzai a strong leader who can uphold and implement any potential deal if America does not agree with it. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he did not want to be identified.

U.S. officials have not indicated they are ready for any contacts with high-level Taliban leaders, though U.S. officials do encourage fighters to lay down arms and join the Afghan government's reconciliation program.

An Afghan opposition leader, former President Burhanuddin Rabbani, told The Associated Press earlier this year that Afghan political leaders have been meeting with Taliban and other anti-government groups in hopes of negotiating peace.

The contacts took place between leaders of the opposition National Front party and "high level" militant leaders.

Rabbani says Afghanistan's six-year war must be solved through talks, echoing a view held by many in the country. He said some Taliban are willing to negotiate, but that others are not.

Karzai, in his message Tuesday, said he would personally protect Taliban and other militant leaders from U.S. and NATO troops if they come back to Afghanistan for talks.

"Don't be afraid of the foreigners. If they try to harm you, I will stand in front of them," Karzai said.

Karzai said "everybody knows" Afghan officials are working toward peace efforts, and that if there is any progress, Afghan officials would announce it. "There hasn't been anything practical, but are hopeful it will happen," he said.

The build-up of the Afghan security forces is the centerpiece of the American counterinsurgency strategy in Afghanistan and Omar's Eid message appeared to react to that.

Afghan, U.S. and other international officials recently decided to increase the size of the Afghan army to 134,000, raising the previous cap of 80,000.

"There are thousands of security forces ... and it is clear that they are criminal, thieves, and the people can not trust the security forces at all," Omar said in a statement posted on a Web site that has carried many Taliban statements in the past.

"Foreign forces are the thieves of our culture, faith, as well as natural resources, in the same way the army and police steal the money, dignity and the honor of the people."

Omar also called on militants not to harm civilians during their operations.

Omar went into hiding after a U.S.-led invasion toppled his Taliban regime in Afghanistan seven years ago. Afghan officials have said he is hiding in or near the Pakistani city of Quetta. Pakistan says he is in Afghanistan.

Also today, the U.S.-led coalition said three of its troops were killed in a roadside bomb blast in southern Afghanistan.

The coalition did not release any other details, including the nationalities of the troops or the blast's location. Most troops in the coalition are American but it does include forces from several other countries.

Taliban and other militant bombs have grown larger and more deadly this year. More U.S. soldiers have died in Afghanistan already this year than in any year since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion. At least 127 U.S. forces have died, as have 99 from other coalition countries.
 
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When Pakistan was talking to 'militants' to lay down arms, this cheeseball was shouting at the top his lungs "no talks, just military action". What happened to him now?

Did he finally realize he can't hang on to chair any longer or Uncle Sam gave an indication to refuse help further? :azn:
 
Thank you umer i was looking for the news as i got the infor 3 days back but could not find the proper news.

The process is already going on in Afghanistan. And guess what who is the other player apart from Saudi Arabia and CIA ???

MI6

:rolleyes:
 
Karzai offers sanctuary, negotiations to Mullah Omar

Tuesday, 30 Sep, 2008 | 01:38 PM PST |


KABUL: Afghan President Hamid Karzai says he's asked the king of Saudi Arabia to help facilitate peace talks with the Taliban in order to bring an end to the Afghan conflict.
Karzai says there has not yet been any negotiations only requests for help. But he says that Afghan officials have traveled to both Saudi Arabia and to Pakistan in hopes of ending the conflict.
Karzai says his government is trying to encourage militants to lay down arms and join the government, and he underscored that he has reached out to Taliban leader Mullah Omar to ''come back to your home soil and work for the happiness of the people.''
Karzai also said he would personally protect Omar from US and NATO troops if he comes back to Afghanistan for talks.

DAWN.COM | World | Karzai offers sanctuary, negotiations to Mullah Omar

what is this???:taz:
 
Karzai offers sanctuary, negotiations to Mullah Omar

Tuesday, 30 Sep, 2008 | 01:38 PM PST |


KABUL: Afghan President Hamid Karzai says he's asked the king of Saudi Arabia to help facilitate peace talks with the Taliban in order to bring an end to the Afghan conflict.
Karzai says there has not yet been any negotiations only requests for help. But he says that Afghan officials have traveled to both Saudi Arabia and to Pakistan in hopes of ending the conflict.
Karzai says his government is trying to encourage militants to lay down arms and join the government, and he underscored that he has reached out to Taliban leader Mullah Omar to ''come back to your home soil and work for the happiness of the people.''
Karzai also said he would personally protect Omar from US and NATO troops if he comes back to Afghanistan for talks.

DAWN.COM | World | Karzai offers sanctuary, negotiations to Mullah Omar

what is this???:taz:

i think the heroin is getting to his brain!
 
THE NEWS INTERNATIONAL

Wednesday, October 01, 2008
KABUL: Afghan President Hamid Karzai has made a call for peace to Taliban leader Mulla Omar and has asked the king of Saudi Arabia to help in talks with the militant group responsible for a surge in violence.

Karzai's plea comes hours after Mulla Omar urged the US and Nato forces in Afghanistan to withdraw or face a similar defeat to occupying Soviet troops a generation ago.

"A few days ago I called upon their leader, Mullah Omar, and said 'My brother, my dear, come back to your homeland, come and work for the peace and good of your people and stop killing your brothers'," Karzai told reporters on Tuesday.

Earlier, a Taliban spokesman told Reuters that Omar had said: "Reconsider your wrong decision of wrong occupation, and seek a safe exit to withdraw your forces."

If the occupation persisted, "you will be defeated in all parts of the world ... like the former Soviet Union", Omar said.

Karzai denied reports that negotiations with the Taliban had taken place in Saudi Arabia, but said he had written to the Saudi king to ask him to help bring peace to Afghanistan and the region.

Britain's Observer newspaper said on Sunday that peace talks with the militant group were being mediated by Saudi Arabia and backed by Britain.
 
Just when the west along with AFghanistan is urging Pakistan on to do battle with the militants in Bajaur, they are going behind our backs and trying to negotiate a peace deal to bring the Taliban into the political process, after having systematically undermined our own peace efforts with some militants.

For God's sake, lets wake up and smell the Coffee!!!
 
and there is pin drop silence over this deal from the western media...
 
They finaly want the taliban and by taliban i mean the real taliban to turn against Pakistan. I have said way back that taliban were and are infavour of Pakistan and we should engage with them in dialouge via back door diplomacy, i think a possible reason why musharraf was so choosy in his targets, perhaps this was the reason as he did not wanted to alienate the taliban who have always been infavour of Pakistan.
 
Hehe you know what's really going on? America wants a peace deal with Taliban, they've asked their front man to do the yappin.
 
Karzai Sought Saudi Help With Taliban
By JOHN F. BURNS
Published: September 30, 2008

KABUL, Afghanistan — As the Afghan war intensifies and American commanders call for increased troop levels, President Hamid Karzai said Tuesday that he had repeatedly sought the intervention of the Saudi royal family to bring the resurgent Taliban to peace negotiations.
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Omar Sobhani/Reuters

President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan in Kabul recently. On Tuesday, he described efforts to get the Taliban into peace talks.
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But Mr. Karzai said his appeals had failed to yield any talks, and his tone suggested a degree of frustration with the Saudi government for not having acted more decisively. Nor was there any indication that senior Taliban leaders were ready for talks on any grounds that the Karzai government and its Western backers would be likely to accept.

On the contrary, the Taliban leader, Mullah Muhammad Omar, issued a new call on Monday for Afghans to continue their “holy war” against American and other Western troops, and promised that those heeding his call would be rewarded with a collapse of American power in the world, just as the former Soviet Union collapsed after its 10-year occupation of Afghanistan.

Both Mr. Karzai and Mullah Omar made their remarks on the Muslim holiday of Id al-Fitr, observing the end of the holy month of Ramadan. The Taliban leader’s remarks appeared on a jihadist Web site that has been frequently used for his pronouncements.

Mr. Karzai, speaking at his headquarters in the Arg Palace in Kabul, said Afghan envoys had been to Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, but have been unable to start negotiations with the increasingly assertive Taliban.

The approach to the two governments appeared to stem from their longstanding links with the Taliban — Saudi Arabia as one of only three governments that recognized the Taliban government in Kabul after 1996, and Pakistan because many Taliban leaders are believed to be in hiding there, and because of the history of contacts between the Taliban and Pakistan’s military intelligence agency, Inter-Services Intelligence.

“The reality is that for the last two years, we have been sending letters and messages to the king of Saudi Arabia, and requesting him, as a leader of the Islamic world, to help us achieve security, peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan and good relations in the region,” he said.

“The preparations for negotiations are going on a daily basis,” he added. “Our envoys have traveled many times to Saudi Arabia and to Pakistan, but the discussions have not started and nothing has been done yet. If any negotiation happens, it should be inside our country.”

Mr. Karzai was speaking nearly seven years after a United States-led coalition ousted the Taliban from power in Kabul, at a time when the conflict with the Taliban and Al Qaeda has grown.

The toll among foreign troops in Afghanistan, with more than 230 deaths so far this year among more than 20 NATO countries contributing troops, has reached a new high, and American commanders have said that the level of violence is up 30 percent in the past year.

The American-led coalition said Tuesday that three soldiers were killed Monday when a roadside bomb hit their vehicle in southern Afghanistan. The coalition did not give the location nor the nationality of the dead soldiers.

In July, for the first time, American military casualties in Afghanistan exceeded those in Iraq, according to a tally kept by icasualties.org, a Web site that tracks Pentagon announcements.

Mr. Karzai’s remarks followed recent news reports that Afghan political leaders had been meeting with the Taliban and other rebel groups in the hope of negotiating peace. But it has not been clear whether the talks took place with government approval.

Mr. Karzai said he had urged the Taliban leaders to “come back to your country and work for your people’s happiness and stop killing and harming people.” He added what sounded like an admonition to the government’s Western allies, saying he would personally protect militant leaders from NATO troops if they agreed to talk. “Don’t be afraid of the foreigners,” he said. “If they try to harm you, I will stand in front of them.”

Western diplomats said it was not clear why Mr. Karzai had chosen this moment to disclose his efforts to start talks with the Taliban. But they noted that he had just returned from a trip to the United Nations in New York, where he met with Muslim leaders who have urged Kabul to negotiate with the Taliban.

The diplomats said it was also unclear what concessions the Karzai government might offer that would tempt the Taliban to end the war. The militants have consistently demanded the withdrawal of all foreign troops, and have imposed their harsh version of Islamic rule in areas where they dominate.

Asked at a briefing in Washington on Tuesday about Mr. Karzai’s offer of peace talks, a State Department spokesman, Robert Wood, noted that the Karzai government had set a number of conditions for its “reconciliation” program, which has been the basis of its efforts to persuade those fighting the government to give up arms.

Mr. Wood said the conditions included a renunciation of violence, acceptance of Afghanistan’s democratic Constitution and a repudiation of Al Qaeda — all terms the Taliban leadership has rejected.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/01/world/asia/01afghan.html
 
Obviously, Mr. Karzai should get real, rather than offering something to someone who is certainly not on the same page as the rest of the world.
Offering this vile fundamentalist who thinks he is some incarnation of the 'Faqir of Ippy' is probably the most uninspiring offer made since the end of the cold war.
 
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