Taliban peace talks 'will be long and complex'
One of Afghanistan’s most renowned anti-Taliban commanders predicted on Thursday that proposed peace talks would be a “long and complex process” and it was likely they would be snubbed by hard-liners and foreign fighters in the Islamic militia.
The comments by Gen Bismillah Khan – made during a visit by the most senior US military chief in the region – appeared to reflect a more cautious approach by some in the Afghan military towards a push by President Hamid Karzai to open talks with the Taliban.
“This could be a beginning,” Khan said following meetings with Adm William Fallon, the head of US Central Command. “But it’s a long and complex process. It’s not something that will have a significant effect in the short term.”
Khan, the army chief of general staff, predicted that some Afghan supporters of the Taliban could be drawn into expanded negotiations for reconciliation with Karzai’s Western-backed government – which has been offering peace deals to individual fighters for years.
But he said that foreign jihadists and core Afghan supporters would probably never come to the table.
Fallon’s stop in Afghanistan – part of a 10-day visit that includes the Persian Gulf and Iraq – seeks to review US-led strategies to battle Taliban guerrillas struggling to regain footholds around the country. Fallon oversees US military forces across Central Asia, the Middle East and the Horn of Africa.
The overtures for peace talks received initial encouragement from a Taliban spokesman and have been welcomed by Nato and the United Nations. But the Taliban leadership returned with pre-conditions that would effectively kill chances for talks – that the Pentagon and Nato withdraw its forces and Islamic law is re-imposed on the country.
