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Despite dangers, 'moderate' Taliban talk peace
[DAWN] Faced with the prospect of unending war in Afghanistan, a moderate faction of the Taliban is pushing hard for a new peace dialogue in a move fraught with danger but openly welcomed by Kabul.

The risk these rebels face was made starkly clear last week when one of their senior figures, Abdul Raqeeb, was bumped off outside a religious seminary in the Pak city of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
 on his way home.

While sitting on the back of a cycle of violence driven by one of his students on Monday afternoon, he was shot and killed by two assassins in an attack that, like others in the past, has gone unclaimed.

A few days earlier, he had travelled to Dubai for a gathering of other senior Taliban members led by former minister Aga Jan Motasim, who are in favour of beginning a grinding of the peace processor.

Mullah Raqeeb planned to return to Dubai soon and members of the Afghan government's High Peace Council were also set to visit, in a sign that the moribund dialogue process might be relaunched.

Instead, he joined a list of dozens of other "moderate" exiled members of the hardline Islamist movement to have bit the dust in mysterious circumstances in Pakistain over the last few years.

Shadowy killings

Publicly, senior Taliban figures accuse the Afghan secret services or the Americans of being behind the killings.

But in private many suspect elements within Pakistain's shadowy military establishment of playing a part.

"As soon as they want to make progress, Pakistain puts itself in the way," complained one Taliban source exiled in Pakistain, who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity.

Another member added: "Several of our leaders want to make progress towards peace, but they don't say it out of fear of reprisals", from Pakistain or other members close to its security services.

Pakistain has strong historic links with the Taliban leadership and was seen as their main ally when they seized power in Kabul in 1996.

After the Islamists' overthrow in the US-led invasion of 2001, many crossed the border to seek shelter, and Islamabad was long suspected of favouring their eventual return to power.

That position has now changed, according to many Pak officials, with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf...
 and the military worried about the spread of radical Taliban ideas in their own country.

Islamabad is now officially in favour of an "inclusive" grinding of the peace processor comprising all Afghan factions including the Kabul government, with whom once-frosty relations have improved, and the "moderate" rebels.

But parts of the powerful Pak security services are regularly accused of trying to keep control over their hardline allies.

Motasim's initiative in Dubai could therefore have been seen as a threat.

"Any Taliban who wants to negotiate without the consent of Pakistain might become a target.

Pakistain is not necessarily against talks, but wants control of the process," said Thomas Ruttig from the Afghan Analysts Network, a think-tank.

In Dubai Motasim succeeded in bringing together about 30 members from Afghanistan and Pakistain, including seven former ministers and eight military commanders, according to a Taliban source.

All were keen on a dialogue comprising all factions to achieve the krazed killers' core demands: pacifying the country and ensuring all foreign troops leave Afghan soil.

Warm words

Separate statements by the High Peace Council (HPC) and Motasim on Saturday confirmed the meeting had taken place.

The council said it had met four members of the Taliban and the two parties had decided to "continue the negotiations process in, as well as outside, the country".

"The HPC welcomed this decision," their statement said.

Motasim's faction meanwhile praised the release of "Taliban and other Afghan prisoners" by Afghanistan's Caped President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai
... 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 Pashtun face 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...
, a move that outraged the United States.

Karzai had in addition denounced the execution of Raqeeb as the killing of "a supporter of peace and reconciliation".

He even sent military helicopters to transport the body of the former Taliban minister for refugees to its burial place in an isolated village in northern Afghanistan.

But for the moderate Taliban, persuading Kabul of their goodwill is the easy part. Bringing along the rest of the fragmented krazed killer group and convincing overall leader Mullah Omar
... a minor Pashtun commander in the war against the Soviets who made good as leader of the Taliban. As ruler of Afghanistan, he took the title Leader of the Faithful. The imposition of Pashtunkhwa on the nation institutionalized ignorance and brutality in a country already notable for its own fair share of ignorance and brutality...
 is more difficult, and dangerous.

Omar has so far refused to entertain any grinding of the peace processor until foreign troops have left Afghanistan.

Motasim has also made enemies in the central Taliban leadership, which decried his meeting as "detrimental" to the movement and "beneficial to US and their stooges".

"Motasim has been active in promoting this for several years, but he didn't manage to shift the positions so far," said Ruttig from Afghan Analysts Network.

And any final solution would need to be palatable to all sides, the Kabul government, the Taliban, Pakistain and the Americans.
Posted by: Fred 2014-02-24
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=386230