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Good News on Afghan Peace Negotiations
By maudeaster on 2011-04-18 06:49:49
Good news! The Obama administration has removed a major roadblock to ending the Afghan war through serious
negotiations with the Taliban and other groups resisting the US occupation. Secretary of State Clinton in a speech to the Asia
Society on February 15" revealed altered US requirements for negotiations to proceed. Instead of previous, totally
unrealistic demands that Taliban agree to all US terms before negotiating, Clinton announced that the US now seeks 3
requirements as the outcomes of negotiation: that the Taliban representatives must renounce violence, reject Al-Qaeda and
abide by the Afghan constitution. On April 6, the US Ambassador to Afghanistan, Karl Eikenberry’s, confirmed, “We are
all 100% behind reintegration and reconciliation.” Eikenberry spoke at news conference to announce a $50 million US
donation to Afghanistan’s High Peace Council to support reconciliation efforts with the Taliban. The Secretary of the High
Peace Council explained that day that reconciliation talks had been underway for some time, encouraged also by the UN,
Britain, Germany and Norway. Another member of the High Peace Council, a former Taliban cabinet member, confirmed
that Turkey has agreed to provide a location for ongoing talks.
(http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/07/world/asia/07afghanistan. html?
Century Foundation-supported Afghanistan Task Force, called for. With 15 members from 9 countries, chaired by former US
Undersecretary of State Thomas Pickering and former UN Special Representative for Afghanistan Lakhdar Brahimi, the
Task Force concluded that it is not realistic to think that Afghan resistance can be eradicated militarily. Brahimi and
Pickering wrote ina NY Times op ed, “The stalemate can be resolved only with a negotiated political settlement involving
President Hamid Karzai’s government and its allies, the Taliban and its supporters in Pakistan and other regional and
international parties.” (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/23/opinion/23brahimi.html?
scp=1 &sq=brahimi%20settling%20the%20afghan&st=cse ) In the past, the US has held back on negotiations citing a fear of
the Taliban being too close to Al Qaeda. However, an important February report by New York University researchers on the
Taliban stressed that the Afghan Taliban have been wrongly perceived as close ideological allies of Al Qaeda and could be
persuaded to renounce the global terrorist group. The researchers Kehn and van Linschoten, who have worked in
Afghanistan for years, believe peace overtures to the current Taliban leadership are the only way to end the war. They
caution that the current US military campaign against Taliban field commanders could leave the movement open to younger,
more radical leaders and give Al Qaeda more influence. They urge prompt negotiation to take advantage of the current
ideological differences between the Taliban and Al Qaeda. (http:/Awww.nytimes.com/2011/02/07/world/asia/07afghan.html )
This is all good news. We need right here in the US a peace dividend from the rapid withdrawal of US troops from
Afghanistan. This is how wars end, through negotiations, so why wait and spend another $120 billion to keep fighting in the
coming year?
