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Afghan president leaning toward talks

Negotiations with the Taliban could splinter militants away from al-Qaida, experts say.

KABUL, Afghanistan - Six years after the fall of the Taliban, the fighting in Afghanistan is growing more intense - but so is talk of peace.

President Hamid Karzai has signaled increased interest in negotiating with the Taliban, and the United Nations and NATO say a growing number of militants want out of the conflict.

With Taliban leaders demanding a pullout of foreign forces and the United States rejecting all-inclusive negotiations, high-level talks to end the war remain a distant prospect. Still, there appears to be a sliver of hope for talks.

One analyst suggested talks with the Taliban could be a way to separate the militia from al-Qaida, as the United States has done in western Iraq where a new alliance with Sunni militants has splintered their relationship with al-Qaida in Iraq.

"The climate for talks is more conducive than it ever has been," Daan Everts, NATO's ambassador to Afghanistan, said last week.

President Hamid Karzai reiterated his long-held willingness to engage the Taliban diplomatically. A Taliban spokesman originally signaled that the hard-line militia might consider that. But the group's leadership has since said that the U.S. military and NATO must first leave the country and that a harsh brand of Islamic law must prevail in Afghanistan - conditions the West won't accept.

The U.S. military urges fighters to lay down their weapons and seek reconciliation. But the U.S. Embassy says Washington will not negotiate with terrorists.

"They have killed thousands of people, many of them in brutal and horrific ways," said Christopher Dell, the embassy's deputy head of mission. "So there is really no possibility of achieving any settlement with (the Taliban) on any terms other than them giving up the armed struggle ... and accepting the government."

The country is on course for its bloodiest year since the Taliban's ouster in late 2001. Of 4,300 people killed in insurgency-related violence in 2007, more than 3,100 were militants, according to the Associated Press.

The United Nations says a growing number of fighters are seeking a way out of the carnage.

"In the last six months, we as the United Nations have had more contacts from the opposition than ever before. I would not say it is dramatic, but it is a trend," said Chris Alexander, the deputy head of the U.N. mission in Afghanistan.

"They are in many cases tired of fighting, eager to live in their country with their families and be out of danger but not sure how to approach the powers that be to make that happen," he said.

Mullah Abdul Hakim, a former Taliban commander from the southern province of Uruzgan, joined the country's reconciliation process two months ago, telling the AP that he had been thinking "God likes peace, and from both sides, innocent people were dying."

Mustafa Alani, director of security and terrorism studies at the Gulf Research Center in Dubai, said the strategy behind talks with the Taliban would be to splinter the militia's relationship with al-Qaida.

"If that can be achieved, it's similar to what's happening in Iraq," he said. "It's possible the Americans are backing this because they've separated the Iraqi resistance force from al-Qaida, and it's possible they have a similar goal here."

However, the conditions might still not be ripe for any meaningful talks, said Seth Jones, a counterinsurgency expert at the Rand Corp. think tank.

"Most negotiated settlements have required a military stalemate. This has not happened yet."

[Last modified September 23, 2007, 01:33:05]