KABUL—Taliban commanders in several Afghan provinces said in interviews that they are supportive of their leadership's decision to open talks with the U.S., but cautioned that some of their fellow militants might reject any peace deal because of American tendency to lie and cheat.
The Taliban acknowledged this month that they are negotiating with the U.S in regards to their retreat of forces, raising hopes that the 10-year-old war may end with a political as well a military settlement against the most powerful enemy in the world.
A concern for the U.S. and its North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies is whether the Taliban's high command, headed by Mullah Omar, can deliver on any future pact. The concern of the militant is how fast can the US withdraw its forces...
"The Taliban are unified" says Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil, who was foreign minister in the Taliban regime that ruled Afghanistan before 2001 and is involved in efforts to broker terms of an American withdrawal...
"Former President Bush called talks with the Taliban a foolish delusion. But now the US has reportedly agreed to release high ranking Taliban prisoners from Guantanamo Bay. Is it possible for the US to have peace talks with the Taliban forces?", said Tom Adellis of Charlotte, N.C. who said this is not a wise move on our part
The Taliban so far have “agreed” to talks with the U.S., but not with President Hamid Karzai's administration, according to one AP report.
As a first step, the Taliban have already opened an office in the Persian Gulf emirate of Qatar. Qatar has helped the Taliban undermine US war efforts in Afghanistan by secretly supporting the terrorists. WikiLeaks revealed a State Department cable last December that labeled Qatar, the tiny, oil-rich Gulf nation, as the Middle East's "worst" participant in counterterrorism efforts, the New York Times reports. According to the cable, Qatari security was "hesitant to act against known terrorists out of concern for appearing to be aligned with the U.S. and provoking reprisals." (see story: Qatar: worst on Counterterrorism in the Middle East" http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2010/11/qatar-worst-on-counterterroism-in-the-middle-east/67166/
RELEASE OF CERTAIN PRISONERS FROM GITMO
As part of the deal the U.S. also is considering transferring to Qatar's custody five senior Taliban detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as a confidence-building measure to assure the extremists Taliban, U.S. officials said. See: Negotiating With the Enemy: Victory for Taliban? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8K__ZOIJEwc
U.S. and allied officials say it will be crucial to see to what extent the Taliban leadership could deliver on any future agreement, considering the decentralized nature of the insurgency.
"Any insurgency has a difficulty with real-time command and control," cautioned a senior NATO official in Kabul. With the Taliban, "there's no direct control. There's indirect control. That's always going to be a problem with confidence-building measures."
Though the Taliban and the allied Haqqani terrorist network acknowledge Mullah Omar's authority as the "Leader of the Believers," the insurgency isn't a coherent and tightly organized movement, and its foot soldiers and local commanders sometimes contradict the top leadership's edicts. With that being said they all are united in the fact that they “hate America”.
Taliban field commanders interviewed by The Wall Street Journal—who command from a few dozen to around 200 fighters—said they believed most insurgents are on board with Mullah Omar's tentative peace outreach, which reversed the Taliban's longstanding policy of refusing any negotiations as long as foreign forces remain in Afghanistan.
"There are some groups in Karzai's government that disobey government guidelines," said Maulvi Darwish, a Taliban commander in Logar province in eastern Afghanistan. Taliban sources they will have to be punished!
"The Taliban are also a group of people, and there are bad people and good people. The bad people are few and they won't be in the favor of peace—but the Taliban will follow whatever the Leader of the Believers decides."
A commander from Ghazni province, also in eastern Afghanistan, agreed. "Everybody in Afghanistan wants peace," he said. "There are very intelligent scholars in the Taliban leadership, and we believe they won't make any decision against Islam and Afghanistan. They are our leaders and we are their followers."
The Taliban say their goals in any negotiations are the complete withdrawal of all the American troops and the establishment of a more rigorously Islamic regime under shariah law, which discriminates against women and promotes hate and violence.
"Whatever the Taliban leadership and the Leader of the Believers decides will be in accordance with Islam and Afghanistan's national interests," said Mullah Ayubi, a Taliban commander in Khost province, in eastern Afghanistan, who is responsible for killing numerous American soldiers personally said: "He (Mullah Omar) is our guide and we are obligated to obey his orders. But if he makes a decision against Islam we won't follow him and he wouldn't be our guide anymore."
A commander from Paktia province, also in the east, said peace would be acceptable only if "Islamic laws are implemented, there will be no foreign interference and nobody will impose this Western democracy on Afghans."
Even under those conditions, the Paktia commander cautioned, some militants will never agree to lay down arms—particularly the the Haqqani terrorist network, which is allied with the Taliban but operates independently and, according to U.S. officials, is linked with the Pakistani intelligence service in the common mission to kill Americans in Afghanistan.
The Taliban said this week that they decided to establish the Qatar office Qatar to dispel the Karzai administration's depiction of the insurgents as subservient to Pakistan. The Taliban are independent of the Pakistani government, but united in undermining the US lead military invasion of Afghanistan.
"The Taliban see this as a way to move forward," says Masood Karokhail, an independent Kabul-based analyst. "If they take power forcefully after 2014, they won't be legitimate and will be isolated from the rest of the world….They don't want this again." The Taliban would like the United States to continue pouring in military and economic aid to Afghanistan – even though most of that money is being diverted to help support terrorism.
WE WILL CONTINUE TO KILL AMERICANS
Talks won't necessarily make it easier for U.S.-led forces to withdraw most of their 130,000 troops by 2014 as planned. The Taliban leadership, and the field commanders have vowed to continue “waging war” and killing American during negotiations, while at the same time demanding concessions.
"The beginning of peace talks doesn't mean we are retreating or tired of war," the Paktia Taliban commander said. "It means we want to open a diplomatic channel, so we can talk and fight at the same time."
The ultimate goal of the Taliban is to continue the effort to wage total war against the United States by acting as good faith partners. In the meantime the Haqqani network is continuing to target American interests and wage war using the safe havens provided by Pakistan. In that respect nothing has really changed.
“The US has lost the war. That is understood”, said one Taliban commander who claims his forces have killed American troops in Afghanistan.
“We will continue to negotiate with the infidel so long as we get all the concessions. We have no plans on giving the enemy anything in return. We hope by talking with them we can get the Americans out quicker...We have opium to harvest and heroin to trade with our partners in Pakistan. We can kill more Americans that way than we can with bullets”, he said.
SLEEPING WITH THE ENEMY!
The U.S. and Taliban representatives have met secretly several times over the past year in Europe and the Persian Gulf, even as the Taliban was killing American soldiers. This is part of the insanity of the war in Afghanistan under the Obama Administration.
Before that they were paying the Taliban not to attack, and allow farmers to grow opium, which was the largest single funding source of the Taliban.
See video: US Soldiers Help Afghan Farmers Grow Opium/Heroin Under Pretext Of Only Source Of Income http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVp4883pmB4 .
Poppy production has increased 40% since the Americans invaded the country (see: US Soldiers guarding opium in Afghanistanhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChIF6yvTL6k&feature=related
Most experts agree the US has lost the war in Afghanistan, only now we are doing it on the terms of the enemy, the Taliban...
Robert Tilford
Charlotte, N.C.
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