[R-G] What the increasingly confident Taliban want in exchange for peace

[Anthony Fenton]

What the increasingly confident Taliban want in exchange for peace
http://snipr.com/1qmd1

GRAEME SMITH
 From Wednesday's Globe and Mail

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — The Taliban and their allies say they are  
ready to accept President Hamid Karzai's invitation to peace talks,  
but with tough conditions that show the insurgents' rising confidence  
about bargaining with the embattled Afghan government.

The Taliban's demands include an immediate withdrawal of all foreign  
troops and a rewrite of the Afghan constitution, according to  
interviews The Globe and Mail has conducted with key figures who  
would be integral to any political settlement.

Hope for negotiations surfaced after Mr. Karzai said on Sunday that  
he wants to talk with the insurgents - a statement he has made with  
increasing frequency as the violence rises. But this time, the  
Taliban took the unusual step of answering the President, issuing a  
statement on Monday saying they are prepared to meet with him.

Kabul is investigating the Taliban's invitation, a presidential  
spokesman said yesterday, adding that insurgents who want to  
negotiate will not be arrested.

But Kabul will need to make more substantial promises to get talks  
started, said Qari Yousef Ahmadi, a Taliban spokesman, reached by  
telephone at an undisclosed location.

"The government hasn't made any serious attempt to talk with us," Mr.  
Ahmadi said. "If they want to talk, we have two demands: All foreign  
troops must leave, and we must have an Islamic democracy in  
Afghanistan."

The Taliban spokesman was vague about his definition of Islamic  
democracy. Afghanistan's constitution already defines it as an  
Islamic republic, but it also sets aside a quarter of seats in  
parliament for women and makes other provisions that give the country  
a more moderate character than it had under the Taliban.

"The United States brought democracy to Afghanistan, but it was un- 
Islamic," Mr. Ahmadi said. "We need democracy, but under the laws of  
Islam."

Although he did not elaborate, he mentioned that another insurgent  
group has been thinking along similar lines: Hizb-i-Islami, the  
largest band of gunmen that fights alongside the Taliban.

That group's leader, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, recently gave a video  
response to questions from a researcher for The Globe and Mail,  
outlining his requirements for a ceasefire.

Like the Taliban, the old warlord listed the removal of foreign  
troops as his first demand.

But he also offered a more detailed political scheme: "Afghan people  
must sit together and reach the decision that the foreign troops  
should leave," he said. "The Americans must accept this, and they  
must leave. We will never participate in meetings in which they don't  
discuss this issue."

He continued: "Power should be handed over to a temporary government,  
and they will have a meeting of tribal elders, a new constitution,  
and work under Islamic rules. We should have real and fair elections,  
which follow Islamic rules. Under these circumstances, I am ready for  
negotiations."

Both Mr. Hekmatyar and Mr. Ahmadi remain in hiding; the former has  
been designated by the United States as a terrorist and supporter of  
al-Qaeda.

The name Ahmadi is likely a pseudonym, sometimes assumed by different  
Taliban spokesmen in hopes of avoiding the fate of their predecessors  
who have been killed or captured.

This points to one of many hurdles for a political settlement: The  
United Nations has formally designated the Taliban and other  
insurgent groups in Afghanistan as terrorists, making it politically  
and legally difficult for the Kabul government to reach a compromise.

"If they're labelled as terrorists, how can they talk?" said Maulana  
Fazlur Rahman, who heads one of Pakistan's largest religious parties,  
the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, which voices support for the Taliban but  
disavows any direct link with violence.

"The key lies in the hands of the Americans," Mr. Rahman said during  
an interview earlier this month in Islamabad.

"They should empower the Afghan government to talk with the Taliban.  
But the atmosphere is not yet conducive."

The Taliban spokesman agreed that the terrorist designation might  
hamper talks. During recent negotiations with the government of South  
Korea for the release of hostages, Mr. Ahmadi said, the Taliban  
believed that the United States was trying to stop the discussion  
because it violated the principle of not negotiating with terrorists.

In the end, however, the success of the Korean talks shows pragmatism  
can overcome such objections, Mr. Ahmadi said.

Canadian military officials in Kandahar have said they do not talk  
with the Taliban under any circumstances, although their NATO allies  
have not been as firm. The Dutch military in neighbouring Uruzgan  
province openly describe talks with insurgents as part of their  
strategy, and many observers viewed the British military's failed  
peace deal last year in Musa Qala district as an agreement with the  
Taliban.

In Ottawa, the Conservative government's Foreign Minister, Maxime  
Bernier, recently criticized the South Korean government for  
negotiating with the Taliban for the release of hostages.

"We do not negotiate with terrorists, for any reason," he said.

"Such negotiations, even if unsuccessful, only lead to further acts  
of terrorism."

New Democratic Party Leader Jack Layton, however, has long called for  
negotiating an end to the war, while the Liberals have not been vocal  
on the issue.

So far, the only publicized method for reaching out to the Taliban  
has been the Peace Through Strength program, a mediation effort aimed  
at encouraging defections from the insurgency. The program has  
suffered a lack of funding, however, and cannot offer the Taliban  
very much except a written promise of immunity from prosecution.

"Karzai wants us to get letters, and be free to sit at home," Mr.  
Ahmadi said. "This is silly, it's not acceptable."

Whatever compromise might eventually be accepted by the Taliban would  
probably be hard for the international community to swallow, Mr.  
Rahman said.

"The West accepts Islam as a religion, but not as a state system, and  
this is unfortunate," he said.

*****

Opinions on Afghan negotiations

Qari Yousef Ahmadi

Spokesman, on whether the Taliban would accept a government in Kabul  
that isn't led by Mullah Mohammed Omar.

"We don't care who is leader, as long as he is a good Muslim."

Maulana Fazlur Rahman

Head of Pakistan's Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam party, which voices support  
for the Taliban.

"From the first day of this war, I have been saying that a

negotiation is the only solution."

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar

Leader of the largest band of gunmen allied with the Taliban.

"We are talking with all groups that want independence for  
Afghanistan. With Taliban and others we already had some meetings,  
and still we continue our meetings. We want to collect all the  
independence groups together into one group, to have one aim, one  
target. We aren't yet successful with this, but we are trying, and  
I'm sure it will happen."

Hamid Karzai

President of Afghanistan

"For the security and prosperity of the Afghan people, in order to be  
freed from al-Qaeda and terrorists and their inhuman actions, we are  
ready for any type of discussion and negotiations."

Maxime Bernier

Canadian Foreign Minister

"We do not negotiate with terrorists, for any reason. Such  
negotiations, even if unsuccessful, only lead to further acts of  
terrorism."