US to open direct Taliban talks
Source: BBC
The US is to open direct peace talks with the Taliban, senior White House officials have announced.
The first meeting is due to take place in the next few days in the Qatari capital, Doha, where the Taliban is poised to open its long-awaited office.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai said his government is also sending a delegation to Qatar to talk to the Taliban.
The announcement came on the day Nato handed over security for the whole of Afghanistan to government forces.
Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-22957819
Scurrilous
(38,687 posts)dipsydoodle
(42,239 posts)Karzai announces peace talks as Afghans take over security.
(Reuters) - Afghanistan will send a team to Qatar for peace talks with the Taliban, President Hamid Karzai said on Tuesday, as the U.S.-led NATO coalition launched the final phase of the 12-year war with the last round of security transfers to Afghan forces.
Karzai's announcement was the first possible step forward in the peace process, which has struggled to achieve results despite many attempts, and is likely to be applauded by his Western backers.
"Afghanistan's High Peace Council will travel to Qatar to discuss peace talks with the Taliban," Karzai said in Kabul, referring to the council he formed in late 2010.
"We hope that our brothers the Taliban also understand that the process will move to our country soon," Karzai said of the fundamentalist Islamic group that ruled the country with an iron fist from 1996 to 2001.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/06/18/uk-afghanistan-blast-idUKBRE95H03A20130618
KansDem
(28,498 posts)HeroInAHalfShell
(330 posts)KansDem
(28,498 posts)former9thward
(31,802 posts)The picture has been long debunked. These are mujahideen representatives. The Mujahideen for the most part did NOT become the Taliban. The people in the photo testified about Soviet war crimes before Congress in 1983.
They later became part of the Northern Alliance who swept the Taliban from power in late 2001 with American help.
happyslug
(14,779 posts)Now, the US did support Afghans who fought against the Soviets, many of whom are in the Taliban today, but many are also in the Government in Kabul. Switching sides is an old time practice among the Afghans (Some even joined the Soviet Forces, then the resistance, then Pakistan, then the Communist Government of Afghanistan, that survived the collaspe of the Soviet Union, then the various sides picking up the pieces as that government feel, then the Taliban as it slowly took over Afghanistan in the late 1990s.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taliban
The Taliban are a creation of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, as a unifying forced based on the Pashtun tribal group (of which the leader of present day Afghanistan is also a member of, through raise)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pashtun_people
The House of Saud wanted to expand its Wahhabist beliefs, while Pakistan wanted to be able to fight a more in depth defense in any war with India. Permitting the Taliban to recruit and be controlled by Pashtuns fulfill both goals.
The Wahhabi Movement:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wahhabi_movement
Pakistan Inter Service Intelligence organization:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inter-Services_Intelligence
Just a comment about Afghanistan and how they feel free to switch sides at any time. They are NOT even loyal to their tribe, but to what ever Clan of that Tribe they are members of (And clearly not loyal to anything called "Afghanistan", for it their mind their clan in first, Family is second, Tribe is third, religion is Fourth, trading partners is fifth, and then some where on that list is their country).
bemildred
(90,061 posts)DCBob
(24,689 posts)negotiating with the bad guys.
Socal31
(2,484 posts)How would you like to be a 19yr old in the Anbar province riding around in a Hummer, about to hit an IED or ambush? Knowing that it is completely unnecessary. And has been, the whole time.
So much "blood and treasure" for essentially nothing. Once Tora Bora was over, it would have been cheaper and more effective to just bribe the Taliban into becoming something other than Saudi Wahhabis.
bemildred
(90,061 posts)arewenotdemo
(2,364 posts)to recruit more good guys to fight in Syria.
muriel_volestrangler
(101,149 posts)...
"There is a contradiction between what the US government says and what it does regarding Afghanistan peace talks," the president's spokesman Aimal Faizi said.
He added that the president disagreed with the name given to the new Taliban office in the Qatari capital, Doha.
"We oppose the title the 'Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan' because such a thing doesn't exist," Mr Faizi said.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-22965046
bemildred
(90,061 posts)There are good reasons cops hate domestic disputes.
YeahSureRight
(205 posts)and build sweat shops so the people can make cheap crap for 'Mericans to buy at Wal Mart.
So why don't you boys play ball and we will stop killing you and let you work for Wal Mart enforcing the RULEs at the sweatshops.
HardTimes99
(2,049 posts)being sarcastic -- this whole 'terrorist' trope was simply a means to consolidate further the power of the military-industrial complex, as this news reveals.