Leaders of Taliban invited to Kabul talks
Source: Agencies |
January 29, 2010, Friday
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THE Kabul government yesterday invited Taliban leaders to a peace council of elders in a step toward resolving the Afghanistan conflict and called on Saudi Arabia to help in the quest for peace.
A government spokesman said the Taliban would be asked to take part in the peace council, or loya jirga, set to be held early this year.
"We wish them to come," spokesman Hamid Elmi said at a 60-nation conference in London on Afghanistan.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai told the conference his government would set up a national council for peace, reconciliation and reintegration followed by a peace jirga.
"We must reach out to all of our countrymen, especially our disenchanted brothers, who are not part of al-Qaida, or other terrorist networks, who accept the Afghan constitution," Karzai said.
Karzai also said he wanted Saudi Arabia - seen as a trusted interlocutor between the Afghan government and the Taliban - to play a prominent role in bringing peace.
The Taliban has so far shown no willingness in public to enter talks, though some analysts say it is tired of the fighting and realizes it is no better placed than the United States and its allies to win the war by military means alone.
Western governments say they have no plans to hold direct peace talks with Taliban leaders themselves as they send in more troops and development aid to break a stalemate in Afghanistan.
But through the influx of 30,000 extra US troops, along with money to buy off Taliban foot soldiers, they are hoping to sufficiently weaken the insurgency to agree any eventual settlement from a position of strength.
Western governments have also stressed it will be up to the Afghans to lead any process of reconciliation - effectively giving Karzai some room to pursue his own contacts.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called the conference as the war, originally launched to deny al-Qaida militants sanctuary after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the US, enters its ninth year.
A government spokesman said the Taliban would be asked to take part in the peace council, or loya jirga, set to be held early this year.
"We wish them to come," spokesman Hamid Elmi said at a 60-nation conference in London on Afghanistan.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai told the conference his government would set up a national council for peace, reconciliation and reintegration followed by a peace jirga.
"We must reach out to all of our countrymen, especially our disenchanted brothers, who are not part of al-Qaida, or other terrorist networks, who accept the Afghan constitution," Karzai said.
Karzai also said he wanted Saudi Arabia - seen as a trusted interlocutor between the Afghan government and the Taliban - to play a prominent role in bringing peace.
The Taliban has so far shown no willingness in public to enter talks, though some analysts say it is tired of the fighting and realizes it is no better placed than the United States and its allies to win the war by military means alone.
Western governments say they have no plans to hold direct peace talks with Taliban leaders themselves as they send in more troops and development aid to break a stalemate in Afghanistan.
But through the influx of 30,000 extra US troops, along with money to buy off Taliban foot soldiers, they are hoping to sufficiently weaken the insurgency to agree any eventual settlement from a position of strength.
Western governments have also stressed it will be up to the Afghans to lead any process of reconciliation - effectively giving Karzai some room to pursue his own contacts.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called the conference as the war, originally launched to deny al-Qaida militants sanctuary after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the US, enters its ninth year.
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