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Taliban Attack and Afghan Move Cast Pall on Peace Talks Afghanistan Refuses to Start Talks With U.S. and Taliban
(about 3 hours later)
KABUL, Afghanistan — Within hours of opening an office for peace talks in the Gulf emirate of Qatar, Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan launched a deadly ambush on an American convoy, and the Afghan government separately broke off talks on military cooperation with the United States. KABUL, Afghanistan — Less than 24 hours after the Taliban opened an office for peace talks in the Gulf emirate of Qatar, the Afghan government backed away on Wednesday from even starting discussions with its adversaries and broke off talks on future military cooperation with the United States. .
It was at best a rocky prelude to peace talks with the Taliban, which have collapsed repeatedly in the past. American officials have long pushed for such talks, believing them crucial to stabilizing Afghanistan after the withdrawal of Western forces next year. In one statement, signaling his anger at how the Americans had negotiated the opening of the Taliban office, President Hamid Karzai suspended talks on a bilateral security agreement with the United States which would allow American troops to stay after 2014.
Earlier on Tuesday, the American military had formally handed over control of security in all of Afghanistan to Afghan forces, a development that was followed hours later with the three sides announcing that peace talks would begin at the new Taliban offices in Doha, Qatar. It was at best a rocky prelude to peace talks with the Taliban, which have collapsed repeatedly in the past. American officials have long pushed for such negotiations, believing that they are crucial to stabilizing Afghanistan after the withdrawal of Western forces next year.
But then came the surprise announcement Wednesday that Afghan officials would cease cooperation with the United States in discussing the presence of American troops after most foreign forces withdraw next year. The Afghan officials were said to be angry that the new Taliban office in Qatar to host the peace talks would be called the “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan” with the Taliban flag flying there, which Afghan officials felt would grant the insurgents too much legitimacy. In a separate announcement several hours later, the government delayed indefinitely any encounters with the Taliban in Qatar, saying that it would not meet with them unless the insurgents lowered the office’s profile. When the Taliban opened the office Tuesday evening, they described it as a political office, and put up a banner calling it the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan — the name they used when they were in power — suggesting that they saw it more as an office of a government in exile.
“In view of the contradiction between acts and the statements made by the United States of America in regard to the peace process, the Afghan government suspended the negotiations, currently under way in Kabul between Afghan and U.S. delegations, on the bilateral security agreement,” said a statement by the office of President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan. “The way the Taliban office was opened in Qatar and the messages which were sent from it was in absolute contrast with all the guarantees that the United States of America had pledged,” said the statement from President Karzai’s office.
The Taliban formally opened their Qatar office Tuesday evening, complete with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, after more than a year of efforts to restart peace talks. But the portrayal of that office itself has emerged as a significant sticking point. “Recent developments showed that there are foreign hands behind the opening of the Taliban office in Qatar. Unless the peace process is led by Afghans, the High Peace Council will not participate in the Qatar negotiations,” the statement said, referring to a body Mr. Karzai established in 2010 during earlier peace efforts.
Afghan officials said it was only an “address” where peace talks could begin. The Taliban described it in a statement as a full-blown political office where they would meet with representatives of the international community, interact with the press, “improve relations with countries around the world” and, almost as an afterthought, meet Afghan officials — “if there is a need.” That sounded close to describing the office as an embassy rather than simply a venue for peace talks. The statement came during an all-day meeting in the presidential palace that included Mr. Karzai, senior Afghan government officials and the members of the High Peace Council.
Either way, the Taliban attack on the Americans late Tuesday was a signal that despite the move toward peace talks, the insurgents were not letting up their military activities. The attack Tuesday night took place in the village of Shaka, just outside the sprawling Bagram air base, when Taliban insurgents ambushed an American military patrol, firing a rocket at an armored vehicle, according to Roshna Khalid, a spokesman for the governor of Parwan Province, where the base is located. She said the attack took place just over a mile outside the perimeter of the base, which is about an hour’s drive north of Kabul, the capital.. Referring to the latest Afghanistan diplomacy at a news conference Wednesday in Berlin with Chancellor Angela Merkel, The Associated Press reported that Mr. Obama said that Washington had anticipated “there were going to be some areas of friction, to put it mildly, in getting this thing off the ground. That’s not surprising. They’ve been fighting there for a long time” and mistrust is rampant.
The international military coalition issued a statement confirming only that four coalition soldiers had been killed in an “indirect fire” attack in eastern Afghanistan, but in line with normal policy did not release the nationalities of the victims. The Bagram base is largely staffed by Americans, and is the largest base in the country with more than 20,000 military and civilian employees. The Afghan government has been angered by Taliban signals that the insurgents see themselves as an alternative to Mr. Karzai's government. At the office’s opening on Tuesday in Doha, the Taliban also raised the white flag they had used when they ran the country and sang the national anthem used when they were in power before the American-led invasion in 2001.
And in the eastern city of Jalalabad, about 3 a.m. Wednesday, Afghan police units surrounded a house believed to be harboring Taliban insurgents and demanded they surrender. They refused, and in the ensuing firefight four insurgents were killed and two wounded; two police officers were wounded as well, according to Afghan police officials. “The Taliban cannot call themselves an Islamic emirate,” Aminuddin Mozafari, a member of the High Peace Council and a former commander who fought the Russians, said. “They are just a group of insurgents with no legal status.”
If the peace talks do go forward, they will be a significant step in peace efforts that have been locked in an impasse for nearly 18 months, after the Taliban walked out and accused the United States of negotiating in bad faith. “The High Peace Council for the time being postponed its trip to Doha as a sign of its disagreement with the current status of the Taliban office in Qatar and will not participate in any talks until they change the term “Political Office” and “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.”
But the Taliban may have other goals in moving ahead with the talks. Their language made clear that they sought to be dealt with as a legitimate political force with a long-term role to play beyond the insurgency. In that sense, in addition to aiding in talks, the actual opening of their office in Qatar — nearly a year and a half after initial plans to open it were announced and then soon after suspended — could be seen as a signal that the Taliban’s ultimate aim is recognition as an alternative to the Western-backed government of President Karzai. Afghan officials have long said that the office should only be an “address” for the Taliban in a neutral place, and not the symbol of a government in exile.
The Taliban, however, seemed to cast the office as something closer to an official embassy, underpinning the insurgents’ claim to legitimacy.
They said they planned to use the office to meet with representatives of the international community and the United Nations, interact with the press, “improve relations with countries around the world” and, almost as an afterthought, meet “Afghans if there is a need.” They did not mention the Afghan government.
Within hours of opening the office, Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan launched a deadly ambush on an American convoy.
The rapid-fire developments on Wednesday came a day after the American military formally handed over control of security in all of Afghanistan to Afghan forces, a development that was followed hours later with the three sides announcing that peace talks would begin in Doha.
But then came the surprise announcement Wednesday that Afghan officials would cease cooperation with the United States in discussing the presence of American troops after most foreign forces withdraw next year.
“In view of the contradiction between acts and the statements made by the United States of America in regard to the peace process, the Afghan government suspended the negotiations, currently under way in Kabul between Afghan and U.S. delegations, on the bilateral security agreement,” said a statement by the office of President Karzai of Afghanistan.
If the peace talks do go forward, they would be a significant step in peace efforts that have been locked in an impasse for nearly 18 months, after the Taliban walked out and accused the United States of negotiating in bad faith.
But the Taliban may have other goals. Their language made clear that they sought to be dealt with as a legitimate political force with a long-term role to play beyond the insurgency. In that sense, in addition to aiding in talks, the actual opening of their office in Qatar — nearly a year and a half after initial plans to open it were announced and then soon after suspended — could be seen as a signal that the Taliban’s ultimate aim is recognition as an alternative to the Western-backed government of President Karzai.