Taliban insurgents said on Saturday they might join proposed tribal councils aimed at ending mounting violence in Afghanistan, if they were asked. Afghanistan and Pakistan plan separate and joint councils, or jirgas, in both countries in a bid to stem insurgency. But they have not agreed on who will take part, and where or when the jirgas will be. Key government and political leaders on both sides say at least moderate elements of the resurgent Taliban must be included in any talks to end the fighting.
| “The Taliban are Afghanistan’s biggest political and military power and without them no system will succeed,” Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousuf said by satellite telephone from |
Kabul has several times offered talks with the Taliban, subject to strict conditions such as the abandonment of all foreign support, which the guerrillas have rejected each time.
Yousuf said the Taliban had not been invited to the jirgas. He said if they were, they would set conditions. “So far, it appears that it is only a government-level jirga between Pakistan and Afghanistan. If any group is ignored, it will be nothing but a political meeting,” Yousuf said. “Those who call the Taliban weak are foolish.” The aim of the jirgas along the uncontrolled frontier is to unite tribal elders divided by colonial boundaries and revitalise local and traditional rule where government rule is useless.