[Pak Daily Times] Taliban said on Tuesday they were ready to "negotiate" with the US but not with Washington-backed Afghan government of 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...
as it "is illegal and powerless."
Reliable sources told Beautiful Downtown Peshawar-based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) news agency that Taliban's central shura took the decision in a meeting held to deliberate the issue of negotiation.
The AIP, however, did not say when and where the shura met.
"Even negotiations with the US would be restricted to swapping the prisoners held by each side and no other issue or proposal from the US," it said quoting unnamed sources as stressing.
Also, Taliban resistance against the "foreign occupying forces" in Afghanistan would "not be suspended for the duration of talks", the sources told the AIP.
The AIP quoted another Taliban source as saying that there were "no differences of opinion in the Taliban ranks" about the stand taken by their central shura on the issue of negotiations.
A military commander of Taliban, when contacted by the AIP, said, "There is no possibility of sitting on negotiating table with the Karzai-led government. If Taliban Islamic movement holds talks, with the incumbent Afghan government, our movement would split into two factions."
"One small group would hold talks with the Hamid Karzai-led government and the other faction would continue jihad," he maintained.
When asked if 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 already notable for its own fair share of ignorance and brutality...
is still leading Taliban, the commander said, "Mullah Omar has more authority and control over the prevailing situation than before. He frequently takes decisions on making changes."
Information received by the AIP about the US-Taliban negotiations in Qatar "suggests that no worthy development has so far been made in the negotiations".
The sources said that the process of negotiations was "so weak that an office for Taliban has not yet been opened" in Qatar. They added the Taliban representatives, who are currently in Qatar, could not travel freely in Doha.
The AIP sources clarified that the actual agenda of negotiations was prisoners' swap, adding that no progress was made in this regard so far.
The Taliban shura's decision of not holding talks with the Afghan government comes at a time when Hamid Karzai government has differences with the US over the negotiations in Qatar. "The Afghan government is unhappy for not being included in the talks. Secondly, the government of Afghanistan wants the talks to be Afghan-owned," the AIP said.
The deputy chairman of the High Peace Council, Abdul Hakim Mujahid, a renowned Taliban member and once their representative in New York, believed the ongoing US-Taliban talks in Qatar "are aimed at building trust between the two warring sides".
He hoped that after some time, the High Peace Council would join the talks between the Taliban and the US. Mujahid was of the view that the talks were incomplete and unsuccessful without their participation.
"Taliban are still firm on complete and unconditional withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan and not to allow permanent military bases to United States," sources said.