[wvns] Karzai in talks with Taliban
ON TALIBAN TURF, LONG LINES OF AILING CHILDREN" (BUT WHY?)
New York Times
Dec 12, 2007
Editor CE- A touching story from a remote Afghan village caught up in
the war. It's a story the makes the well-fed, all professional, US
Military the humanitarians, and it paints the citizen Afghans as the
victims, not of the invaders, but of the Taliban rebels who resist the
invasion. We, from the country of the invaders, are supposed to blame
the Taliban for bringing war and misery to these poor people. No
doubt they do share some blame, but who invaded whom?
The new UK Prime Minister Harold Brown, who took the place of
Warmaker, Tony Blair, told the press the UK would not negotiate with
the Taliban, they will defeat them. At what cost we ask?
This story needs to be compared to Gaza, where Israel first penned up
the Gazans, then annihilates them by starvation. All the while the
jailers tell the world they are victims, and those in the pen have
little voice. Why is Israel the victim? Because some of the Gazans
will not stop throwing rocks and shooting mortar rounds over the
fences into the state of Israel. We are supposed to believe the
aggressors, who have all the tanks, airplanes, and ships, are not the
aggressors. If the inmates will just lie down and be good prisoners
the jailers will again feed them. Note that they can not leave this
prison nor can they feed themselves while they are locked down. You
and I probably cannot get in to learn about it. This writer got in once.
There is not a dimes worth of difference between the way the USA and
Israel treat the Afghans, and the Gazans respectively. The reason is,
it is all one big war against Islam, with several fronts. The
politicians, war profiteers and Zionists will not change, for them
these tactics are necessary for their prosperity. Let us correctly
blame the war enablers, those who are guilty, the
Judeo-Christian-Zionsit who are the only major voting group in the
world big enough to change it, if they want to.
See for yourself, go to the story and click on the children slide
show: (http://whtt.org/index.php?news=2&id=1970)
[NOTE: Very touching slide show. The children are genuinely terrified
and undernourished. What is so strange, however, is how they all
happened to show up at the Army hospital in their best finery. A boy
with an infected foot is wearing an Eid cap. Another girl seeking
medical care is dressed up in hot pink like a Muslim bride. I assume
the photographer told them to go home and find their best embroidery
to wear? Or were the villagers spontaneously wearing their best
clothes to greet the Army? There is a story in Islam where the Muslims
bring their dying babies and children to the enemy to beg them to stop
the embargo and the attacks against them. They failed to receive mercy
and in fact the Prophet Mohammad's own grandson was killed. - WVNS]
===
Karzai 'already in talks with allies of former Taliban leader'
Jerome Starkey in Kabul and Colin Brown
13 December 2007
The Taliban's former chief spokesman has revealed that top-level talks
are being held between the Afghan government of Hamid Karzai and key
lieutenants of the former Taliban leader Mullah Omar.
His disclosure that the Taliban "cabinet in exile" is engaged in
negotiations appeared to contradict the statement to Parliament
yesterday by Gordon Brown that hardline Taliban leaders would be
isolated from talks over the future of Afghanistan.
Mr Brown confirmed the report in The Independent yesterday that it was
time for the Karzai government to engage Taliban fighters in talks as
part of a shift in strategy for winning the support of the Afghan
people. But he insisted there would be no negotiations with the
hardline leaders of the insurgency.
"Our aim is to isolate and eradicate the Taliban insurgency, and to
isolate the leadership," said Mr Brown. "We are not negotiating with
the leadership, but we want to support President Karzai in his efforts
at reconciliation. If he is successful in bringing across those
members of the insurgency who then declare that they will give up
fighting and support democracy and be part of the system, then these
are efforts at reconciliation that are important to the future of the
whole country."
Mr Brown gave the impression that only rank-and-file members of the
Taliban would be involved. However, Mullah Mohammad Is'haq Nizami, the
former spokesman for the Taliban's supreme leader, Mullah Omar, said
he has been relaying messages from Kabul to insurgent commanders in
Pakistan for months.
Mullah Nizami, who also ran the regime's radio station, said Mr Karzai
was trying to isolate Mullah Omar by wooing his lieutenants in the
Quetta Shura, a council of elders in neighbouring Pakistan, which
controls insurgents in Kandahar and Helmand. He said: "Karzai is
trying to get the 18 people in the Quetta Shura. If he succeeds it
will be a defeat for Mullah Omar. The Taliban and the government are
tired of fighting and they want to negotiate.
"We are trying to find a way to talk to the government officially, to
find a solution to the problems they are both facing."
When Mr Brown visited Afghanistan on Monday, Mr Karzai admitted he had
met a number of senior Taliban commanders in person to negotiate a
mass defection.
Mullah Nizami, once a close friend of Mullah Omar's, fled to Pakistan
in 2001 when the Taliban regime collapsed. But he returned to Kabul
earlier this year under an ongoing reconciliation programme, in an
effort to open talks.
He said he relays messages to a number of prominent ex-Taliban
figures, including the former Supreme Court chief justice, Maulvi Noor
Mohammad Saqib, and the former minister for repatriation, Haji Abdul
Raqib.
"These are talks about talks," said one senior Nato official. "It
might not be the beginning of the end, but it's the end of the
beginning. It's not official. It's representatives of representatives,
like the role the Church played at the start of the Northern Ireland
peace process." British diplomats are cautiously optimistic about the
talks. They see negotiations as part of the solution. American
officials fear the idea will be "radioactive" to voters back home.
A senior presidential aide said the Taliban was divided. He said:
"They are tired of fighting. They want a better life. We need to find
ways to guarantee they will be safe if they come back and there will
be no revenge."
It is understood talks will continue "under the table" until the two
sides can agree something to warrant a public announcement. "The
Taliban want to take part in government," said Mullah Nazimi. "They
want sharia law, and they want the withdrawal of international forces.
But not at once."
The Taliban have also insisted the UN scraps its blacklist which
requires member states to freeze the assets and restrict the movement
of 142 former Taliban officials, including Mullah Omar, before
negotiations officially start.
Mr Brown also used his statement signalling a shift in strategy from
war-fighting to nation-building to attack Nato allies for their
failure to provide more support for the security of the country. He
revealed Nato chiefs will be seeking more offers of men, equipment or
cash from countries that have failed to provide support for
Afghanistan so far at a Nato meeting in Edinburgh tomorrow.
Lord Ashdown is expected to be announced as the UN super-envoy to
Afghanistan shortly, to act as a co-ordinator for future developments
with the Karzai government. He will be overseeing the three-point plan
announced by the Prime Minister for security, reconciliation and
economic development.
Mr Brown announced the British taxpayer will be providing £450m in aid
between 2009 and 2012, in addition to £490m already spent over six
years for rebuilding the country. Aid is also to be targeted at
farmers to try to stop them producing poppy harvests for the illegal
heroin trade.
The go-between
The Taliban "spin doctor" Mullah Mohammad Is'haq Nizami ran
Afghanistan's state radio station, Voice of Sharia, until 2001 when
the regime fell. The station mainly broadcast religious texts and
hardline sermons and poetry. The Taliban outlawed most music. He fled
to Pakistan in November 2001, during the US-led invasion, but
continued to act as chief spokesman for the movement's leader, Mullah
Mohammed Omar.
Mullah Omar, the one-eyed "commander of the faithful", rarely agreed
to meet non-Muslims, leaving much of the regime's reputation in Mullah
Nizami's hands. In Pakistan, Mullah Nizami ran an underground Taliban
magazine, called Sirek [Shine], and he continued to meet exiles. He
returned to Afghanistan in June under a reconciliation programme.
Since his return, he claims the government has reneged on a promise to
give him money and a job.
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