NATO's Face-to-Face Talks With the Taliban

[waraich66]

NATO Official Describes Talks With Taliban
VIDEO: Martha Raddatz on the effort to end the Afghan war with words.
NATO's Face-to-Face Talks With the Taliban
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By MARTHA RADDATZ (@martharaddatz)
Oct. 20, 2010

The Afghan government is conducting secret meetings with Taliban leaders who are so significant that if the U.S. was not helping them enter Afghanistan, they would likely be killed by U.S. Special Forces.

"Any insurgent seeking to enter into talks could be subject to that kind of targeting," Mark Sedwill, NATO's senior civilian representative in Afghanistan, told ABC News in an interview.

The journey usually begins in Quetta, the headquarters of the Afghan Taliban leadership and a city located in the Baluchistan province of northwest Pakistan.

The Afghan Taliban leaders drive in several vehicles northwest over the border into Kandahar in southeast Afghanistan.

Then, they either are sneaked onto NATO aircraft and flown to the Afghan capital of Kabul or driven there. The U.S. military tracks the vehicles in the air and on the ground, clearing roads to ensure their occupants are not harmed by coalition forces.

VIDEO: Martha Raddatz on the effort to end the Afghan war with words.
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Officials hope that the high-level talks will lead to low-level Taliban fighters turning in their weapons with a promise to stop fighting, and a pledge of allegiance to the Afghan constitution, but stress that the talks with the Taliban are only in the very initial stages.

"At this stage, it's really channels of communication ... open between some significant leaders of the Taliban and the government of Afghanistan," Sedwill said.

"I don't think it's gone beyond that," he said. "I don't think we're at the stage of real negotiations. I know that [Afghan] President [Hamid] Karzai hopes we'll reach that point, but at this stage it's really ... early steps."

And the foreign forces are eager to show they are in the back seat of the effort.

"The Afghan government is, in the end, leading this effort and will continue to do so," Sedwill said.

"President Karzai has put a peace process out there," he added. "He's organized the peace jirga. There is now the peace council. He's made sure that there is now a respectable and honorable route back into the mainstream for these people if they're willing to take it."

With the war losing support among the American public, officials are under pressure to show progress by President Obama's December review, and certainly by the spring.

President Obama Meets With National Security Team on Afghanistan and Pakistan

Meanwhile, Obama met with his national security team today for his monthly meeting on Afghanistan and Pakistan.

A White House statement issued after the meeting did not mention the talks, except for President Karzai's establishment of a high peace council to support Afghan-led reintegration and reconciliation.

ABC News' Kristina Wong and Richard Coolidge contributed to this report from Washington, and Alexander Marquandt contributed to this report from Kabul.


NATO AND US HAVE NO OTHER OPTION LEFT

 

[waraich66]

Former NATO envoy: Taliban talks likely to be held in Turkey
20 May 2011, Friday / TODAY’S ZAMAN WITH WIRES, ANKARA
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Hikmet Çetin
Hikmet Çetin, NATO’s former top civilian official in Afghanistan and a former foreign minister, has said reconciliation talks with the Taliban to solve problems in Afghanistan are likely to be held in Muslim NATO member Turkey.


Turkey is poised to play an important role in Afghanistan and is a leading candidate for a place to hold negotiation talks with the Western powers and the Taliban, he said in an interview with the state-run Anatolia news agency.

“Turkey is a unique country. It has the respect of other countries in the region, including Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Taliban has no objections to Turkey, which is both a Muslim nation and has historical ties to the region,” Çetin underlined.

Commenting on Turkey’s position on Afghanistan, Çetin said Turkey is doing its job in Afghanistan as part of NATO. “We are not fighting the Taliban. We are not in the combat zone. A new era has begun in Afghanistan, and Turkey is poised to play an important role. Peace-building is not easy, and it takes patience and time. The most important issue is where to hold negotiations free from any interference and pressure. Turkey is a leading candidate for a place to hold such negotiations” he said.

Çetin predicted that the killing of al-Qaeda terror leader Osama bin Laden created a window of opportunity to shore up Afghan reconciliation talks.

“Everybody realizes that the military solution to the Afghan problem is not possible. It has to be a political solution that also includes the Taliban. The Taliban is different from al-Qaeda in that the former does not have any claims to act beyond Afghanistan and Pakistan. It wants to come to power in Afghanistan and rule some regions in Pakistan. A solution is not possible without talking to the Taliban. Everybody recognizes this in principle,” he explained.

Stressing that “the devil is in the details,” the former foreign minister said there are wide differences among international organizations and within the US on how to proceed with engaging the Taliban. “Personally I do not think that even the Taliban is in agreement on how to proceed. There are different opinions among Taliban members as well,” he said, adding, “That is why we need to talk to the Taliban.” Recalling that he and others from NATO had talks with mid-level Taliban officials last summer, Çetin said, “We realized the Taliban was not in a position to do what they did in the era before the US intervention.”

Çetin explained that the Western powers insist the Taliban accept the constitution. “The Taliban may want some changes to the constitutional system, but in principle they must accept the constitutional order. Second, they also need to recognize Hamid Karzai as the legitimate leader of the Afghan government, which was formed after the elections. Third, the issue of women’s rights and fundamental rights are very sensitive to the West,” he stated.

As for the withdrawal of NATO forces, Çetin said he understands the Taliban’s demand for the withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghan soil. “We told them that no foreign power wants to stay in the country. The US plans to withdraw in July, Holland has already withdrawn, Canada has announced its decision to so and Italy and Germany want to get out as well. If a solution is found, nobody is willing to stay on,” he noted.

 

[Leader]

the problem is with some pakistanies that they still under amreeki influence support this war of terror... if amreeki are doing peace talks with talibes, why cannot we, when we have lived side by side with them for no less than 60 years with no problem at all ???? and we all know that FATA always took greatest number of national and international tourists as compared to any other part of the country..so its time to rethink about our approach, are we going to remain on amreeki payroll or are we going to solve our problems by ourselves....

 

[waraich66]

the problem is with some pakistanies that they still under amreeki influence support this war of terror... if amreeki are doing peace talks with talibes, why cannot we, when we have lived side by side with them for no less than 60 years with no problem at all ???? and we all know that FATA always took greatest number of national and international tourists as compared to any other part of the country..so its time to rethink about our approach, are we going to remain on amreeki payroll or are we going to solve our problems by ourselves....

Right , America want peace with Afghan Talaban but war with Pakistan Talaban , why??????

 

[kakazhu]

According to the U.S., “Defense News,” 25 reported that a former Air Force Chief of Staff, U.S. General Moseley Fisher Institute in Israel on the development of air power, said the annual forum, the U.S. military in future conflicts

 

[kakazhu]

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