Taliban, Afghan govt secret peace talks make no progress - report
11 January 2014, 13:12
Afghan government and Taliban officials have again met in secret talks for a peace deal, yet neither side sees much hope of the talks ending in an agreement, according to reports.
At least two Afghan ministers have met with Taliban delegates in the United Arab Emirates, while Pakistan has released dozens of Taliban prisoners in a bid to revive peace talks, a Taliban official told the AP. But the discussions have made no progress, and the Taliban has been unmoved by the prisoner releases, the official said.
As foreign troops are set to leave the country by the end of 2014, a peace deal is crucial in ensuring Afghanistan does not devolve into further civil war. But despite the revived discussions, both the Taliban and Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government continue to stubbornly stick to their positions on negotiations.
The United States has pleaded with Karzai to accept a residual force of foreign troops to stay in the country beyond 2014, to help Afghan security forces. But Karzai says that official peace talks must be renewed before he accepts the terms of the Bilateral Security Agreement. But Karzai has also refused to talk with Taliban representatives as long as the Taliban calls itself 'the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan',which the Afghan president sees as an affront to his government's authority.
The anonymous Taliban official told the AP that his group would accept indirect mediation between the two parties, just as was done in 1989 that led to the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan.
Nevertheless, both sides question each other's sincerity. Karzai is seen as stalling to make major decisions until April, when his successor is due to take over after nationwide elections. Alternately, the Taliban is seen as eagerly anticipating the foreign troops' exit to take back control and exact revenge for alleged atrocities led by Afghan leaders, such as Vice President Rashid Dostum, accused by the Taliban of killing thousands of surrendering Taliban militants at the beginning of the US-led invasion in 2001.
The Taliban official who revealed the secret meetings is long known to the AP, the news agency said. The official says both the Taliban and other armed groups are gearing up for another confrontation, confident they can reclaim the country once international troops exit.
The AP says militias close to senior Afghan government officials are retrieving weapons stockpiles supposedly lost amid an UN-sponsored disarmament program.
Meanwhile, The Washington Post recently reported on the latest US National Intelligence estimate that predicts Afghanistan will descend into civil violence as soon as foreign troops leave.
The peace negotiations that began seven years ago eventually failed based on the Taliban's choice of title, 'Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,' for an office it opened in Qatar last summer ahead of renewed talks. The Taliban argues the name was accepted even before it ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001.
Voice of Russia, RT, Fox News
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