Swordsmyth
03-13-2018, 05:28 PM
The United States is seeing signs of interest from elements of Afghanistan’s Taliban insurgency about talks with Kabul to end the more than 16-year-old war, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Tuesday, as he made an unannounced visit to Afghanistan.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani offered talks without preconditions with the Taliban insurgents last month, in what was seen by U.S. officials as a major overture from Kabul.
Ghani, hosting Mattis at his presidential palace in Kabul, described the new U.S. strategy as a game changer, allowing Kabul to extend its peace offer to the Taliban without doing so from a position of weakness.
“It has been a game changer because it has forced every actor to re-examine their assumptions,” Ghani said.
Western diplomats and officials in Kabul say contacts involving intermediaries have been underway with the aim of agreeing on ground rules and potential areas of discussion for possible talks with at least some elements in the Taliban.
However, the insurgents, who seized a district center in western Afghanistan this week, have given no public sign of accepting Ghani’s offer, instead issuing several statements suggesting they intended to keep fighting.
U.S. Army Brigadier General Michael Fenzel, a top coalition official, said he interpreted the Taliban’s silence as a positive signal that the Taliban were considering Ghani’s offer.
“I also wonder whether or not they’re saying to themselves perhaps this is the best negotiating position (we) will ever have,” Fenzel said.
Mattis stressed that the military campaign was aimed at driving the insurgents toward a political reconciliation, as opposed to an outright battlefield defeat.
“It may not be that the whole Taliban comes over in one fell swoop. That may be a bridge too far to expect,” Mattis said.
“But there are elements of the Taliban clearly interested in talking to the Afghan government.”
Uzbekistan is set to host an Afghan peace conference this month, where participants are expected to call for direct talks between the militant group and Ghani’s government.
However, the Taliban appears likely to miss that conference and have ruled out direct talks with the Western-backed government in Kabul, which they say is an illegitimate, foreign-imposed regime.
They have offered to talk directly to the United States about a possible peace agreement.
Asked whether the United States would be willing to talk directly with the Taliban, Mattis reiterated the U.S. position that the talks should be led by Kabul.
“We want the Afghans to lead and provide the substance to the reconciliation effort,” Mattis said.
More at: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-afghanistan-usa/u-s-detecting-taliban-interest-in-afghan-peace-talks-mattis-idUSKCN1GP0EL
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani offered talks without preconditions with the Taliban insurgents last month, in what was seen by U.S. officials as a major overture from Kabul.
Ghani, hosting Mattis at his presidential palace in Kabul, described the new U.S. strategy as a game changer, allowing Kabul to extend its peace offer to the Taliban without doing so from a position of weakness.
“It has been a game changer because it has forced every actor to re-examine their assumptions,” Ghani said.
Western diplomats and officials in Kabul say contacts involving intermediaries have been underway with the aim of agreeing on ground rules and potential areas of discussion for possible talks with at least some elements in the Taliban.
However, the insurgents, who seized a district center in western Afghanistan this week, have given no public sign of accepting Ghani’s offer, instead issuing several statements suggesting they intended to keep fighting.
U.S. Army Brigadier General Michael Fenzel, a top coalition official, said he interpreted the Taliban’s silence as a positive signal that the Taliban were considering Ghani’s offer.
“I also wonder whether or not they’re saying to themselves perhaps this is the best negotiating position (we) will ever have,” Fenzel said.
Mattis stressed that the military campaign was aimed at driving the insurgents toward a political reconciliation, as opposed to an outright battlefield defeat.
“It may not be that the whole Taliban comes over in one fell swoop. That may be a bridge too far to expect,” Mattis said.
“But there are elements of the Taliban clearly interested in talking to the Afghan government.”
Uzbekistan is set to host an Afghan peace conference this month, where participants are expected to call for direct talks between the militant group and Ghani’s government.
However, the Taliban appears likely to miss that conference and have ruled out direct talks with the Western-backed government in Kabul, which they say is an illegitimate, foreign-imposed regime.
They have offered to talk directly to the United States about a possible peace agreement.
Asked whether the United States would be willing to talk directly with the Taliban, Mattis reiterated the U.S. position that the talks should be led by Kabul.
“We want the Afghans to lead and provide the substance to the reconciliation effort,” Mattis said.
More at: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-afghanistan-usa/u-s-detecting-taliban-interest-in-afghan-peace-talks-mattis-idUSKCN1GP0EL