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| Afghanistan |
| Â Afghan peace Jirga to offer concessions to Taliban |
| 2010-10-23 |
| [Geo TV] Afghanistan's new peace council said on Thursday it would be willing to make concessions to bring hard boyz to the negotiating table, and called for Soddy Arabia's help in mediating peace talks. Qiyamuddin Kashaf, the front man for the High Peace Council, also appealed to all Mohammedan nations for help brokering an end to a war now in its 10th year, and repeated Kabul and Washington's longstanding demand that cut-throats renounce violence. Inducements to tempt fighters back into the government fold could include jobs, homes and cash, Kashaf told a news conference in the Afghan capital. "The High Peace Council expects the Islamic world, in particular the (Organization of the) Islamic Conference, and the Saudi king, to support the pious people of Afghanistan in achieving peace," Kashaf said, reading from a council statement. When pressed what role Soddy Arabia could play, and why he mentioned them, Kashaf said it was one of three nations that recognized the Taliban government, has good ties with Pakistain, and is custodian of the holiest Islamic sites. Soddy Arabia sponsored secret talks last year and has acted as an interlocutor between Afghan officials and Taliban capos in the past. The 70-member council was proposed by President Hamid Maybe I'll join the TalibanKarzai to seek a negotiated end to decades of violence and endorsed by a jirga, or traditional gathering, earlier this year. It had settled on the mechanism it wishes to use as a road map for starting negotiations, Kashaf said, focused on seeking an "honorable" way for cut-throats to return to mainstream society. "This honorable return involves position, house, salary and self-respect. They want concessions and we will give them," he told a news conference, but declined to give further details. "The High Peace Council is earnestly asking Afghanistan's armed opposition and their leaders to give up violence and join the peace processor," Kashaf added, reading from the council's first statement after days of deliberation. NATO and Afghan officials have confirmed preliminary contacts between Karzai's government and the Taliban. NATO's top civilian representative in Afghanistan said on Thursday the Kabul government had opened channels with some "significant Taliban leaders." "We are really just at the stage where channels of communication are beginning to open between the Afghan government and some significant Taliban leaders and we don't really know whether they are just leading particular factions or whether they speak for wider groups," Mark Sedwill, speaking from Kabul, told British media. "We hope that these talks will make progress, we hope that those leaders who are willing to re-enter the mainstream ... have the opportunity to do so and genuinely pursue this but I think we are some way off from that day," he said. The Taliban issued a statement on Thursday describing the reported talks as "mind-boggling lies" and "organized enemy propaganda." "The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan refutes outright these false claims, neither has it sent any delegations for talks and neither does it intend to negotiate at a time when the country is under occupation," the Taliban statement said. The Taliban have always pushed for the withdrawal of the nearly 150,000 foreign forces now in Afghanistan as their main condition for holding talks with Karzai's government. |
| Posted by:Fred |