Reichsmarschall
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The Taliban publishes a 'letter to the American people'
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jamahir
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Didn't read it fully but I wish to point the irony in the Taliban talking of these :
Also, the Taliban profited from opium production. Lastly, NATO planes carried loads and loads of Taliban for the NATO campaigns against Libyan Jamahiriya and Syria.
Also, the Taliban profited from opium production. Lastly, NATO planes carried loads and loads of Taliban for the NATO campaigns against Libyan Jamahiriya and Syria.
Max
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Taliban offered peace talks instead of violence which should be welcomed by international community..
Taliban publish letter calling on US to start Afghan peace talks
‘American people’ and ‘peace-loving congressmen’ urged to press Trump into negotiating
Memphis Barkerin Islamabad
Wed 14 Feb 2018 13.43 GMTLast modified on Wed 14 Feb 2018 16.45 GMT
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Taliban fighters in Farah province, Afghanistan. The letter cites a US watchdog in claiming Taliban control is rising in the country. Photograph: Uncredited/AP
In an unexpected overture at a time of increasing bloodshed in Afghanistan, the Taliban have published an open letter expressing a desire for peace talks and calling on the “American people” and “peace-loving congressmen” to pressurise the Donald Trump administration into negotiations.
The letter, released by the Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, comes amid deteriorating conditions for US and Afghan coalition forces on the battlefield and after a month in which two major Taliban assaults on Kabul killed 150 civilians.
Washington has long refused to talk directly with the Islamic insurgency. Similarly, the Taliban refuses to talk to the Afghan government without first discussing the withdrawal of foreign troops with its powerful ally.
“If the policy of using force is continued for another one hundred years,” the letter reads, “the outcome will be the same ... as you have observed over the last six months since the initiation of Trump’s new strategy”.
The 2,800-word letter favours US and UN-produced statistics over apocalyptic threats. In an attempt to persuade the American people that the war is unwinnable, it cites the “3,546 American and foreign soldiers” killed, an “87% rise” in heroin production in 2017, and the assessment of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (Sigar), the US’s own watchdog, of rising Taliban control on the ground.
In what appears to be a nod to rising support for the Taliban from Russia and Iran, the statement refers to the “international community” now “backing our justified resistance”.
Furthermore, it highlights “tens of billions of dollars” spent in Afghanistan that are “collected from you in tax and revenue”, but then given, it claims, “to thieves and murderers”.
Such arguments have an ear in Washington. On Monday, the Taliban invited the libertarian senator Rand Paul for talks at their office in Qatar, after Paul claimed the US’s projected $45bn (£32.5bn) spending in Afghanistan over 2018 amounted to money “thrown down a hatch”.
This invitation stands a better chance of influencing US policy than the “generalised” open letter, according to Thomas Ruttigof thinktank the Afghan Analysts Network.
American officials reached by the Guardian would not comment on the letter.
But a US official, referring to Trump’s statement in the wake of the 27 January ambulance bombing that “we don’t want talks with the Taliban”, said such attacks proved the Taliban were not ready to negotiate in good faith.
There are signs of conflicting views within the US administration, however. After Trump’s comments, his deputy secretary of state said an “Afghan-led” negotiation with the Taliban remained US policy, and analysts suggest that elements of the military may be softening in their refusal to engage with the Taliban directly.
Even if ignored by policymakers, the public plea showcases an effective evolution in the Taliban’s propaganda, said a western official unauthorised to speak publicly. “I hate to say it,” said the official, “but they have started to hit where it hurts simply by telling the truth.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...sh-letter-calling-us-start-afghan-peace-talks
Taliban publish letter calling on US to start Afghan peace talks
‘American people’ and ‘peace-loving congressmen’ urged to press Trump into negotiating
Memphis Barkerin Islamabad
Wed 14 Feb 2018 13.43 GMTLast modified on Wed 14 Feb 2018 16.45 GMT
Shares
366
Taliban fighters in Farah province, Afghanistan. The letter cites a US watchdog in claiming Taliban control is rising in the country. Photograph: Uncredited/AP
In an unexpected overture at a time of increasing bloodshed in Afghanistan, the Taliban have published an open letter expressing a desire for peace talks and calling on the “American people” and “peace-loving congressmen” to pressurise the Donald Trump administration into negotiations.
The letter, released by the Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, comes amid deteriorating conditions for US and Afghan coalition forces on the battlefield and after a month in which two major Taliban assaults on Kabul killed 150 civilians.
Washington has long refused to talk directly with the Islamic insurgency. Similarly, the Taliban refuses to talk to the Afghan government without first discussing the withdrawal of foreign troops with its powerful ally.
“If the policy of using force is continued for another one hundred years,” the letter reads, “the outcome will be the same ... as you have observed over the last six months since the initiation of Trump’s new strategy”.
The 2,800-word letter favours US and UN-produced statistics over apocalyptic threats. In an attempt to persuade the American people that the war is unwinnable, it cites the “3,546 American and foreign soldiers” killed, an “87% rise” in heroin production in 2017, and the assessment of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (Sigar), the US’s own watchdog, of rising Taliban control on the ground.
In what appears to be a nod to rising support for the Taliban from Russia and Iran, the statement refers to the “international community” now “backing our justified resistance”.
Furthermore, it highlights “tens of billions of dollars” spent in Afghanistan that are “collected from you in tax and revenue”, but then given, it claims, “to thieves and murderers”.
Such arguments have an ear in Washington. On Monday, the Taliban invited the libertarian senator Rand Paul for talks at their office in Qatar, after Paul claimed the US’s projected $45bn (£32.5bn) spending in Afghanistan over 2018 amounted to money “thrown down a hatch”.
This invitation stands a better chance of influencing US policy than the “generalised” open letter, according to Thomas Ruttigof thinktank the Afghan Analysts Network.
American officials reached by the Guardian would not comment on the letter.
But a US official, referring to Trump’s statement in the wake of the 27 January ambulance bombing that “we don’t want talks with the Taliban”, said such attacks proved the Taliban were not ready to negotiate in good faith.
There are signs of conflicting views within the US administration, however. After Trump’s comments, his deputy secretary of state said an “Afghan-led” negotiation with the Taliban remained US policy, and analysts suggest that elements of the military may be softening in their refusal to engage with the Taliban directly.
Even if ignored by policymakers, the public plea showcases an effective evolution in the Taliban’s propaganda, said a western official unauthorised to speak publicly. “I hate to say it,” said the official, “but they have started to hit where it hurts simply by telling the truth.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...sh-letter-calling-us-start-afghan-peace-talks
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