US
drops demand Taliban renounce al-Qaeda to allow talks to progress
America
will engage in its first formal direct talks with the Taliban on
Thursday, after dropping its long-standing demand that the movement
renounce ties with al-Qaeda in order for them to progress.
18
January, 2013
The
US will engage in its first formal direct talks with the Taliban on
Thursday, according to officials, in a milestone on the road to peace
after more than a decade of war.
The
first meeting will take place in Doha, the Qatari capital, after the
Taliban opened their first official overseas office and Washington
dropped its long-standing demand that the movement renounce ties with
al-Qaeda as a precondition for the talks.
“The
US will have its first formal meeting with the Taliban, and indeed
first meeting with the Taliban for several years, in a couple of days
in Doha,” a senior official with Obama administration said.
Afghan
peace negotiators will also travel to Qatar for talks, according to
President Hamid Karzai, speaking as Nato officially transferred
authority to Afghan national forces on the ground in Afghanistan.
Just
hours after the agreement was announced, four American soldiers were
killed by insurgents during an attack on Bagram Air Base. There were
very few details of the attack, but a US official said the soldiers
were killed by "indirect fire", possibly rockets or
mortars.
The
challenges ahead were further underlined however by a suicide attack
only a few miles from where Mr Karzai was speaking.The Taliban has
repeatedly refused to meet Afghan peace envoys.
After
months of behind-the-scenes negotiations however, including some in
Norway according to Espen Barth Eide, the country’s foreign
minister, the movement has now agreed to open the Doha office to
facilitate talks.
“The
office is to open dialogue between the Taliban and the world,”
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said, although he made no
reference to peace talks or the Afghan government. “The Islamic
Emirate Of Afghanistan [the group’s formal name] doesn’t want any
threats from Afghanistan soil to other countries, and neither permits
anyone to threaten other countries using Afghanistan soil.
“We
support a political and peaceful solution that ends Afghanistan’s
occupation, and guarantees the Islamic system and nationwide
security.”
None
of the parties are expecting any imminent breakthrough, but US
officials described the opening of negotiations with the Taliban as
an “important development” on the road to reconciliation.
They
were at pains to be realistic about the road ahead, conceding that
levels of trust between parties were “extremely low”.
Officials
said the first meeting would simply be an “exchange of agendas”
in which both sides laid out what issues they wanted to address. It
could be followed by a second meeting in coming weeks.
Recalling
the Northern Ireland peace process took years to complete, senior
Obama administration officials said the Taliban office was “the
first step on what – if it is successful – will be a very long
road”, adding that there was “no guarantee that this process will
happen quickly, if at all.”
One
official significantly added that a requirement for the Taliban to
drop relations with al Qaeda – something which had stymied previous
attempts at direct talks – was no longer necessary in order for
them to progress.
“We’ve
long had a demand on the Taliban that they make a statement that
distances themselves from the movement from international terrorism,
but made clear that we didn’t expect immediately for them to break
ties with al Qaeda, because that’s an outcome of the negotiation
process,” the official said.
President
Barack Obama, speaking at the G8 summit in Northern Ireland, called
the opening of the Taliban’s political office an important step
toward reconciliation between the group and the Afghan government,
although he predicted the road ahead will be long and complicated.
David
Cameron, the Prime Minister, gave his backing to the talks.
“We
need to match the security response in Afghanistan ... with a
political process to try to make sure as many people as possible give
up violence, give up an armed struggle and join the political
process,” he said. “It’s the right thing to do – of course it
involves all sorts of difficulties.”
Graeme
Smith, of the International Crisis Group, said members of the High
Peace Council themselves do not expect much progress.
“The
main forces that were killing a lot of insurgents in recent years are
leaving,” he said. “The insurgents don’t have a whole load of
incentive to negotiate until they find out where the military balance
lies after the withdrawal.”
Speaking
at a heavily defended army academy just outside Kabul, Mr Karzai told
Nato officials that the handover would help cement support for the
Afghan security forces.
“From
tomorrow, our security and defence forces will now be in the lead,”
he said. “From here, all security responsibility and all security
leadership will be taken by our brave forces.”
Some
97,000 international troops remain in the country. From now until the
end of next year their role will be largely to train and advise local
forces.
The
transfer of the last 95 districts from Nato to Afghan control include
some of the areas still affected by Taliban attacks, including
Kandahar — the spiritual home of the movement — and territories
that border Pakistan.
Anders
Fogh Rasmussen, Nato secretary-general, was in Kabul for the
handover. He said the coalition will help militarily if and when
needed but will no longer plan, execute or lead operations.
“Ten
years ago, there were no Afghan national security forces. Five years
ago, Afghan forces were a fraction of what they are today,” he
said.
“Now
you have 350,000 Afghan troops and police. A formidable force. And
time and again, we have seen them dealing quickly and competently
with complex attacks. Defeating the enemies of Afghanistan, and
defending and protecting the Afghan people.”
US
to join direct peace talks in Qatar with Taliban over Afghanistan's
future
'Peace
and reconciliation' milestone comes after US drops request for formal
rejection of al-Qaida as precondition to talks
18
January, 2013
The
US is to open direct talks with Taliban leaders within days, it was
revealed on Tuesday, after Washington agreed to drop a series of
preconditions that have previously held back negotiations over the
future of Afghanistan.
In
a major milestone in the 12-year-old war, political representatives
of the Taliban will shortly meet Afghan and US officials in Doha, the
capital of Qatar, to discuss an agenda for what US officials called
"peace and reconciliation" before further talks take place
with Afghan government representatives soon after.
The
move came on the day that Nato forces handed official control of
nationwide security to Afghan troops. Less than 12 hours later, the
US confirmed that four US personnel died at Bagram air base near
Kabul, in what was thought to be a mortar attack.
Earlier
the Taliban, in a statement announcing their plans for peace talks
and an office in Qatar, said they would not allow anyone to threaten
or harm other countries from Afghan soil – a move senior US
administration officials described as an important first step to the
Taliban severing ties with al-Qaida.
The
US has agreed that a formal rejection of al-Qaida by the Taliban
leadership would now be a "negotiating aim" rather than a
precondition for talks. It will also seek a commitment from the
Taliban to end its insurgency in Afghanistan and recognise women's
rights in the country.
"This
is an important first step but it will be a long road," said one
senior US official. "We have long said this conflict won't be
won on the battlefield, which is why we support the opening of this
[Doha] office."
White
House officials say they believe the Taliban delegation at the talks
represents the movement's leadership, and includes more radical
groups such as the Haqqani network. Officials said the US would have
a direct role in the talks starting starting this week in Doha, but
the substantive negotiations over the future of Afghanistan would
then be led by the Afghan government.
Speaking
later, Ben Rhodes, deputy national security adviser, said: "The
United States will be supporting a process that is fundamentally
Afghan-led … We can play a role in talking to the Taliban as well
in supporting that peace process – and because we have issues of
our own to bring up with them."
A
Taliban spokesman said the group was opening the Doha office to
"reach understanding and initiate talks with countries of the
world for the purpose of improving relations with them", and to
support a peaceful, political solution to end the "occupation of
Afghanistan".
The
proposal for a Doha office has been on the table since 2011, and
several senior Taliban figures have been living in Qatar for many
months now, but the group had not publicly embraced plans for peace
talks.
In
Kabul, Afghan president Hamid Karzai said he hoped the opening of the
Taliban office would bring the start of talks between the High Peace
Council he set up to lead government negotiation efforts, and the
insurgents.
However
the Afghan leader, who has long been lukewarm about efforts to set up
a Taliban base in Qatar, also called for any negotiations to move
back to Afghanistan as soon as possible. "We hope that our
brothers the Taliban also understand that the process will move to
our country soon," he told a news conference in Kabul, although
US officials stressed that moving talks to Afghanistan would take
time.
Karzai
also announced that Nato forces had handed official control of
nationwide security to Afghan troops on Tuesday. Foreign soldiers
will still be fighting on the ground and supporting Afghans with air
power, medical evacuation and other key capacities until the end of
next year.
Barack
Obama is understood to have informed G8 leaders of the breakthrough
at a dinner at the Northern Ireland summit on Monday night.
The
deal on talks with the Taliban was partly brokered by Pakistan and
the emir of Qatar after "months of diplomatic spadework"
also involving Germany, Norway and the UK. In 2011, Hillary Clinton
suggested that Taliban leaders would have to renounce violence for a
peace process to work.
"Over
the past two years, we have laid out our unambiguous red lines for
reconciliation with the insurgents: they must renounce violence; they
must abandon their alliance with al-Qaida; and they must abide by the
constitution of Afghanistan," she said. "Those are
necessary outcomes of any negotiation. This is the price for reaching
a political resolution and bringing an end to the military actions
that are targeting their leadership and decimating their ranks."
But
on Tuesday, that position appeared to have soften somewhat. "We
don't expect them to break ties with al-Qaida [immediately],"
said one of the US officials speaking on an off-the-record conference
call. "That is an outcome of the process." He said the
expected Taliban statement opposing the use of Afghan soil for
foreign attacks was "a first step in distancing them from
international terrorism".
The
Taliban also appeared to have softened on their long-term demand that
foreign troops leave before talks can start. Karzai, despite his
misgivings about overseas talks and initial opposition to the Qatar
office visited the Gulf state twice this year, apparently paving the
way for Tuesday's breakthrough.
Afghan
president Hamid Karzai, who has always said he would prefer talks to
take place in Afghanistan, was initially lukewarm about the Qatar
plans, but has visited the state twice this year, apparently paving
the way for today's breakthrough.
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