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NATO summit urged to agree inclusive peace talks on Afghanistan

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

London, Nov 15, IRNA -- NATO must agree formal peace talks with all parties in Afghanistan conflict, including the Taliban and neighbouring countries, according to a group of leading development, human rights and conflict prevention organizations.

In a report published ahead of this week’s NATO summit in Lisbon, Portugal, the groups warned that Afghanistan would risk a civil war again, if the transatlantic military organization did not lay out a coherent plan for peace talks soon.

“Many Afghans fear that as troop withdrawal deadlines loom they may be left with a hurried back-room deal between power-brokers that will unravel into a return to civil war,” said the report by Christian Aid, Open Society Foundations and Oxford Research Group.

“The summit will be the last chance for the leaders of NATO member states to consider a change of course on Afghanistan before President Obama’s crucial review of US strategy on the war due in December,” it added.

The two-day summit in Lisbon starting on Friday is expected to set a timetable for transferring responsibility for security from NATO to Afghan forces over the next four years.

But according to a copy of the report ‘Piecemeal or peace deal’ obtained by IRNA, the transition would not work without the political settlement needed to underpin it.

“This is the only viable solution to avoid either a deepening military quagmire or a cut-and-run deal which might allow international troops to withdraw only to see another civil war lead to terrible human suffering and dangerous regional instability,” warned the report.

“That is why NATO governments should make clear at the Lisbon Summit their willingness to consider a new approach which puts reconciliation and the drive for a comprehensive peace settlement at the heart of the international strategy on Afghanistan.”

The warning is that main insurgent groups needed to be accepted as interlocutors in a political process with other major political groupings as long as they are prepared to talk instead of fight and within the framework of the current Afghan constitution.

The present precondition that they should disarm first and give up their weapons is “effectively demanding surrender in the eyes of most opposition groups,” the report said.

“NATO leaders are due to agree plans for the ‘transition’ from ISAF to Afghan security forces. But what they should really be discussing is the kind of political settlement needed to achieve the transition from war to peace,” said Chris Langdon, managing director of the global security think-tank Oxford Research Group.

Senior Advocate at Open Society Foundations Fatima Ayub said Afghan civil groups wanted the Afghan government and its international backers to be clear about where they stand on talks and to show they would listen to Afghans about what should be part of any agreement.

“They want a neutral third party to ensure people’s grievances are heard so that any peace agreement delivers the good governance and stability needed to make it last,” said Ayub, who took part in a conference last week on the possibility of peace talks.

Senior Policy Officer, Christian Aid Ben Hobbs said a peace process must be ‘Afghan-led’, but the country’s international partners “must stop hiding behind this phrase to wash its hands of playing a part in talks to end the war.”

“After more than three decades of conflict, Afghans face some of the highest level of poverty in the world. They now need a peace agreement that can enable them to start rebuilding their country and their lives,” Hobbs warned.

The report published Monday laid out ten ingredients for a transition to peace including engaging the Taliban and other armed opposition groups and involving Afghanistan’s neighbours.

NATO leaders were urged to seek UN Security Council backing for a comprehensive peace process for Afghanistan and back the appointment of a high-level UN-backed mediator to take forward peace talks.

The summit should also approve a change of military tactics to support confidence-building towards peace, including through locally-negotiated ceasefires or suspending widely-resented tactics like night raids in particular areas.