Non-Subscriber Extract
Talking to the Taliban
15 October 2007
There is growing speculation about the possibility of peace talks with the Taliban. Currently, there is little room for compromise as the Taliban is demanding foreign troops leave before talks open, while the government has rejected any such pre-conditions. However, it seems that as another intense fighting season draws to an end, more 'local' Taliban fighters can be hived off from the movement's militant hardcore.
President Hamid Karzai has expressed his willingness to open talks with the Taliban on several occasions, but has lamented the difficulties establishing a dialogue. On 9 September, the anniversary of the assassination of anti-Taliban leader Ahmed Shah Masoud, Karzai said: "We do not have any formal negotiations with the Taliban. They do not have an address. Who do we talk to?"
The Taliban rejects Kharzai's overtures as a public relations ploy. Taliban spokesman Qari Yusuf Ahmadi told Jane's after the president's 9 September comments: "Karzai always claims he is ready to talk but he could not contact the Taliban. How odd when we are fighting and controlling most parts in the south he is unable to find Taliban contact. It means he is not sincere in his claims."
Indeed, Karzai rebuffed an apparent Taliban offer to open a dialogue. Qari Yusuf Ahmadi told the Associated Press on 10 September the group would consider negotiations if the government made a formal offer. He clarified his statement the following day, saying negotiations would only be possible after foreign troops had left the country. Presidential spokesman Humayun Hamidzada responded: "The Afghan government is not open to negotiations with any preconditions."
Kharzai repeated his offer on 29 September, saying he would meet personally with Taliban leader Mullah Omar and give his followers a position in government in return for peace. On the following day, Hamidzada claimed there was "serious debate" among some Taliban fighters about laying down their arms. Qari Yusuf Ahmadi re-stated the Taliban's position that there would be no negotiations until foreign forces had left the country.
A peace deal with the Taliban would be problematic for many reasons. Beyond the risk that they will attempt to take over the rest of the country if foreign forces left, a power-sharing arrangement would be particularly embarrassing for the US, which presented the toppling of the Taliban regime in 2001 as a major success.