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Soldiers getting ahead of civilians in promoting Afghan-Taliban talks: MacKay
Members of the Canadian military who have been encouraging low-and mid-level Taliban to talk with Afghan authorities were out of line, Defence Minister Peter MacKay said Friday. He suggested recent overtures by soldiers on the ground to foment dialogue are a step ahead of an international working group that's trying to hammer together a united front against the deadly insurgency.
The diplomats are out of line every time they provide artillery support, too.
The Globe and Mail quoted Lt.-Col. Gordon Corbould, the new battle group commander, and Sgt. Tim Seeley, a civilian-military co-operation officer for Canada's Provincial Reconstruction Team, on Thursday as saying that channels were being opened to moderate Taliban. Other officials in Kandahar, who spoke privately, backed up the military's assessment calling it creative thinking.

But they were sternly corrected by the minister. "They certainly don't speak for the government of Canada," MacKay said in a telephone interview from Halifax. The Department of National Defence "doesn't make policy," he said, "only the government does that."

MacKay repeated the hardline stand by the Conservatives that Canada does not negotiate directly with terrorists.
That'd be people who're likely to explode around non-combatants.
The idea that Canadian soldiers would be stepping up with Afghans to encourage militants in the war-ravaged province to lay down their weapons and talk has won high praise in Kandahar City.

Powerbrokers such as Ahmed Wali Karzai, the younger half brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, say it's just the kind of push that's need to stem the tide of violence. Tribal leaders in the hotly contested Panjwaii district, where much Canadian blood has been shed, are also happy with the thought. But MacKay said reconciliation isn't something that Canadians can make happen for the Afghans. It's an "initiative that must be led by them" and that Ottawa is content to support Karzai's peace overtures, but "at a distance."
Posted by: Fred 2008-05-03
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=238133