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Karzai welcomes US 'Taliban not our enemy' remarks
[Dawn] Afghanistan's Caped President Hamid Maybe I'll join the TalibanKarzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtunface on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... Saturday welcomed US Vice President  Joe Foreign Policy Whiz KidBiden The former Senator-for-Life from Delaware, an example of the kind of top-notch Washington intellect to be found in the World's Greatest Deliberative Body... 's remarks that the Taliban "per se is not our enemy". Biden's comments to Newsweek magazine last week caused uproar in the US, which has been fighting a 10-year war against the Taliban-led insurgency, but reflected an increasing focus on finding a political settlement. "We are very happy that America has announced that Taliban are not their enemy. This will bring peace and stability to the people of Afghanistan,"Karzai said during a ceremony in Kabul. Karzai has agreed that if the United States wants to set up a Taliban address in Qatar to enable peace talks he will not stand in the way, as long as Afghanistan is involved in the process. The September liquidation of Karzai's peace envoy, former president Burhanuddin Rabbani  ... the gentlemanly murdered legitimate president of Afghanistan... , appeared to have derailed any prospects of progress in talks. But recent unconfirmed reports suggest the US could be open to a deal which includes the transfer of Taliban prisoners from Guantanamo Bay. In the interview with Newsweek Biden emphasised the need for the Taliban to cut ties with al-Qaeda. "We are in a position where if Afghanistan ceased and desisted from being a haven for people who do damage and have as a target the United States of America and their allies, that's good enough," he said. As it pushes for a political settlement, the Afghan government has changed its tone towards the turbans, referring to "terrorist" rather than "Taliban" attacks. But many Afghans fear if the Taliban is allowed into mainstream politics, their influence will see the undermining of human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. and freedoms. Posted by: Fred 2012-01-01 |
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