Terry Glavin: Reconciliation talk is a charade

Block 'backroom' peace deal with Taliban: Abdullah Abdullah
Kabul, Afghanistan -- Canada should make a concerted effort to block any attempt by Afghan President Hamid Karzai to strike a backroom peace deal with the Taliban, says Abdullah Abdullah, Afghanistan's main opposition leader. "The sacrifices you have made here, and all your taxpayers' money. What for? You will have to ask that," Mr. Abdullah said in an interview. He said Canada would not be trespassing on Afghanistan's sovereignty if it moves to block a "reconciliation" deal that circumvents...

Mystery Of Taliban Military Leader's Capture Deepens
Senior Afghan officials tell RFE/RL that Baradar, whose recent capture in Karachi was reported on February 16, is a key piece of Kabul's efforts to reconcile with the Taliban and has been engaged in the process with Afghan President Hamid Karzai's administration for months. From this, alternative theories have emerged: One is that his capture is all part of a plan that will pave the way for him to enter Kabul and become the key figure in reconciling with moderate elements of the insurgency he...

U.S. Won't Talk to Taliban Until Al Qaeda Ties Cut
Kabul —  The United States is monitoring reconciliation talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government but will not participate unless the Insurgents renounce Al Qaeda, a top U.S. diplomat said Wednesday. The comments by Richard Holbrooke, the U.S. envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, came the same day that a Maldives government spokesman said delegations representing the Taliban and the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai held talks late last month in the island...

Baradar's Capture: Two Theories
Radio Free Europe reports : Senior Afghan officials tell RFE/RL that Baradar is a key piece of Kabul's efforts to reconcile with the Taliban and has been engaged in the process with Afghan President Hamid Karzai's administration for months. From this, alternative theories have emerged: One is that his capture is all part of a plan that will pave the way for him to enter Kabul and become the key figure in reconciling with moderate elements of the insurgency he once organized. The...

The American Awakening
In The Graveyard of Empires: America's War in Afghanistan By Seth G. Jones (W.W. Norton, 414 pp., $27.95) I. With the War in Afghanistan hanging in the balance, it is useful, if a little sad, to recall just how complete the American-led victory was in the autumn of 2001. By December, the Taliban had vanished from Kabul, Kandahar, and much of the countryside. Afghans celebrated by flinging their turbans and dancing in the streets. They dug up TV sets, wrapped in plastic, from hiding places in...

Could Baradar's Arrest Damage Taliban Reconciliation Efforts?
The New York Times has a (somewhat disorganized) story co-written by its very knowledgeable reporter Carlotta Gall that suggests the arrest of top Taliban commander Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar by a U.S.-Pakistani team last week might convince the Taliban that there’s no hope in peace talks with the Karzai government in Afghanistan. While there’s a bunch of contrary evidence in the piece as well, a number of sources ostensibly close to the Taliban say that Baradar, who was...

In Pictures: The Most Corrupt Countries
President Hamid Karzai's brother is widely reported to have ties to the nation's virulent opium trade, and even President Obama has felt compelled to lecture Karzai on his government's reputation for rampant Corruption. But with the Taliban still sheltering Osama bin Laden and billions of dollars in U.S. aid for corrupt officials to steal, it's unlikely Afghanistan will clean up its act any time soon. See Also

Afghan peace meeting held in Maldives: source
COLOMBO — Afghan government and Taliban representatives held a secret meeting last month at a holiday resort in the Maldives, an official source said Wednesday. President Hamid Karzai's envoys met with at least seven members closely connected to the Taliban to discuss national reconciliation ahead of the January 28 London meeting of world powers to discuss Afghanistan. "The meeting took place at the Bandos resort island, but the Maldivian government was not directly involved in the...

OSC: Afghan Minority Parties Unenthusiastic About Reconciliation with Taliban
The USG Open Source Center analyzes the stances of the parties representing the Tajiks, Uzbeks and Hazara Shiite Minorities in Afghanistan and finds that they reject President Hamid Karzai's plans for reconciliation with the Taliban or are lukewarm to it. Some Pashtun parties are enthusiatic about the idea. Although each ethnic group mentioned is a minority, it should be noted that together non-Pashtuns make up some 58 percent of the population and so are in aggregate the majority. OSC...

Peace in Afghanistan?
Later, at the London Conference in late January, Karzai announced that he would invite the leadership of the Taliban to a Loya Jirga and that the Taliban would not have to meet certain conditions prior to attending the talks. Porter writes, "The Obama Administration again reacted with scarcely-disguised disapproval. The State Department spokesman repeated the U.S. line that 'anyone who wants to reconcile and play a more constructive role in Afghanistan's future must accept the...

World Digest
Afghanistan Taliban Attack Kills 13 Four Taliban Suicide bombers disguised in army uniforms detonated a car bomb and stormed Kandahar's provincial office Wednesday, killing 13 people. Ahmad Wali Karzai, the head of the provincial council and President Hamid Karzai's brother, said the attack occurred during a meeting of tribal leaders. He said 17 people were wounded. The attack began just before noon, when a man in a vehicle full of explosives blew himself up at the office gates, opening the...

Forces face challenge to protect civilians
Kabul, Afghanistan , Feb. 17 (UPI) -- Coalition forces involved in the massive anti-Taliban offensive in southern Afghanistan are under orders to protect the civilians, troops say. The 15,000-strong "Operation Moshtarak" initiated Saturday to drive the Taliban from their stronghold in Marja and other towns in Helmand Province is being fought under strict rules of engagement. U.S. Marines, leading the offensive, say under the rules, troops cannot fire at people unless they commit a hostile act...

The Taliban Capture -- By: NRO Staff
While the arrest of the Taliban’s No. 2, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, could deal a serious blow to the Taliban in the short term — as the insurgent group is struggling to counter NATO’s ongoing offensive in southern Afghanistan — its long-term impact on overall Taliban activity in Afghanistan, Kabul’s reconciliation efforts, and U.S.-Pakistan cooperation should not overstated. Mullah Baradar was a senior figure in the Taliban’s hierarchy, ranking second only...

Afghan 'shadow governor,' among key Taliban leaders, is captured
Reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan - The Taliban "shadow governor" of a northern Afghan province, an important figure in the movement's overall leadership, has been captured in Pakistan, Afghan officials said Thursday. The reported capture of Mullah Abdul Salam follows word of the recent arrest, also in Pakistan, of the Taliban's No. 2 leader, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, whose influence was described as second only to the movement's spiritual leader and supreme commander, Mullah Mohammed...

Site of Marjah Government Offices Seized
By MICHAEL M. PHILLIPS Reuters A U.S. Marine breaks the door of a house to search for weapons during an operation in Marjah, Afghanistan, on Tuesday. Marjah, Afghanistan—U.S. Marines and Afghan Soldiers seized the site of Marjah's government offices, setting the stage for Kabul to attempt to resume its authority in a town long run by the Taliban. In a full day of skirmishing, the troops took a former police station in central Marjah, as well as the ruined foundations of the former...

In Blow to Taliban, 2 More Senior Leaders Are Arrested
Kabul, Afghanistan — Two senior Taliban leaders have been arrested in recent days inside Pakistan, officials said Thursday, as American and Pakistani intelligence agents continued to press their offensive against the group’s leadership after the capture of the insurgency’s Military commander last month. Afghan officials said the Taliban’s “shadow governors” for two provinces in northern Afghanistan had been detained in Pakistan by officials there. Mullah...

IEDs lurk as biggest threat in U.S.-led Afghan offensive
Kabul, Afghanistan — Most of the bombs planted by retreating Taliban fighters around the town of Marjah, the focus of the current U.S.-led Military offensive in southern Afghanistan, remain hidden threats to Soldiers and civilians, Military officers and Afghan officials said Wednesday. "It is very concerning that only of small percent of the IEDs have been found . . . this is a very dangerous period of time," said a senior official with the U.S.-led International Security...

Afghan official: 2 Taliban shadow governors arrested
Kabul — An Afghan official says two Taliban "shadow governors" from northern Afghanistan have been arrested by Pakistani authorities. Mohammmad Omar, the official governor of Kunduz province, said Thursday that the insurgency's shadow governors in Kunduz and Baghlan were arrested about 10 to 12 days ago in Pakistan. That's roughly the same time that Pakistani and U.S. intelligence forces captured the Taliban's top Military commander — Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar. Omar says the two...

Feb. 16: ANSF-ISAF Discover Weapons Cache in Paktika Province
 Kabul, Afghanistan (Feb. 16) - An Afghan-international force interdicted three vehicles in three separate engagements, resulting in more than 10 Militants killed while pursuing a Taliban commander in Helmand Province yesterday. The joint force was sent to a rural area in the Washir district after intelligence information revealed Militants were in several vehicles. One of the vehicles drove away and attempted to elude the assault force. As the combined force attempted to stop it,...

Maldives hosted Afghan-Taliban talks
MALE, Maldives, Feb. 18 (UPI) -- Afghan President Hamid Karzai 's government and the Taliban held secret peace talks in late January in the Maldives, The Times of London reported Thursday. The meeting, held on Bandos Island in the largely Muslim archipelago in the Indian Ocean, had not been made public until Wednesday when it was confirmed by Muhammed Zuhair, spokesman for the Maldivian president, adding his government was not involved directly in the talks, the report said. The meeting was...

The Taliban Fog
| Wed Feb. 17, 2010 10:49 AM PST Matt Steinglass highlights a passage from the New York Times today about the capture of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban's top Military commander. According to the Times , Baradar's capture "could come at the expense of the Afghan government of Hamid Karzai and complicate reconciliation efforts his government has begun": An American intelligence official in Europe conceded as much, while also acknowledging Mullah Baradar’s key role in...

Taliban leader's arrest a new blow to insurgents
Islamabad (AP) - The capture of the Afghan Taliban’s No. 2 commander by a joint CIA and Pakistani team dealt a fresh blow to Insurgents under heavy U.S. attack and raised hopes that Pakistani security forces are ready to deny Afghan militant leaders a safe haven. Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar’s arrest in the Pakistani port city of Karachi may also push other insurgent leaders thought to be sheltering on this side of the border toward talks with the Afghan government - a development...

Afghan: 2 Taliban shadow governors arrested
Source: AP Kabul - Two Taliban shadow governors from northern Afghanistan have been arrested by Pakistani authorities, an Afghan official told The Associated Press on Thursday. The reported arrests occurred about the same time as the capture of the Afghan Taliban's No. 2 figure, who was apprehended in the Pakistani city of Karachi. The loss of several key figures from the militant leadership is likely to be a severe setback to the Taliban - at least in the short term - as they come under...

Afghan official: 2 more top Afghan Taliban figures arrested in Pakistan
Kabul (AP) - Afghan official: 2 more top Afghan Taliban figures arrested in Pakistan.

Two top Taliban leaders arrested in Pakistan
Kabul--Two Taliban leaders responsible for overseeing the rebel movement's presence in northern Afghan provinces have been arrested, according to Afghan and Pakistani officials. The arrests occurred in close proximity to the capture of the Taliban's second-in-command. This Story View All Items in This Story View Only Top Items in This Story Mullah Abdul Salam, the Taliban leader in Kunduz province, and Mullah Mohammad, the leader in Baghlan province, were taken into custody in Pakistan ...