Saudis will mediate Taliban-Afghan talks

KABUL, Afghanistan — As the crisis in Afghanistan deepens and some Western officials warn that the battle against insurgents cannot be won militarily, the Afghan government is pushing hard for peace talks with Taliban-led militants despite warnings that they could backfire.

Fazil Hadi Shinwari, the head of the government-appointed national council of religious scholars, told the Chicago Tribune in an interview that the Saudi royal family has agreed to President Hamid Karzai's pleas to mediate negotiations. He said the Taliban had agreed to initial talks in Dubai and had sent two passports of Taliban negotiators through him to be cleared for travel.

The Taliban denies any plans to talk, but if they happen, the meetings would mark the first time that Taliban representatives have sat down to negotiate with the U.S.-backed Afghan government since being driven from power in late 2001. While the Saudis reportedly hosted a meeting between Afghan and Taliban officials last month, some of those present said they were not true talks and involved only former Taliban officials.

Negotiations would mean a significant change in the approach toward the Afghan insurgency, which has gained strength in the past year.

The idea of peace talks has been welcomed by some Western officials, but the effort is controversial, considering that the Taliban's objective is a strict Islamic regime like the one they had before. Taliban spokesmen say that the insurgents do not want a power-sharing agreement with the current U.S.-backed government and that they will negotiate only once international forces leave Afghanistan.

It's also not clear who would negotiate. The Taliban is not a monolithic movement, having splintered and spread into neighboring Pakistan. Other militant groups are separate from the Taliban and would need separate talks.

The Afghan government and its international allies also do not appear to be negotiating from a position of strength, analysts said. British and French officials have suggested recently that the war in Afghanistan cannot be won, though U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates dismissed the assertion as "defeatist."

"When you shout that you are weak, your enemy will not come to the negotiating table," said Waheed Mozhdah, an analyst who has researched the Taliban for years. "And if they do come, you have to give them what they want."

Still, Afghan government officials say that, privately, Taliban leaders have been receptive to talks.

For years, Karzai has welcomed the return of any insurgent who agrees to Afghanistan's constitution. Only about 6,000 militants, including some former Taliban regime officials but mostly foot soldiers, have joined the government reconciliation program.

For almost three years, Karzai has written letters asking the Saudi king to sponsor peace talks, said Humayun Hamidzada, the president's spokesman. The Saudi king, who oversees Islam's holiest sites, is influential throughout the Islamic world, and the Saudi government was one of only three that recognized the Taliban regime.

In recent months, Karzai tried harder to recruit Saudi help. His brother Qayum Karzai and ally Asadullah Khalid, the former governor of Kandahar province, met with Saudi officials to pave the way for a delegation of 17 clerics to visit Saudi Arabia during the holy fasting month of Ramadan, officials said.

Media reports have said the delegation included Taliban representatives. But Shinwari, who led the delegation, said it included only four former Taliban officials who now support the Karzai government, an account supported by one of those four.

The clerics first met with the head of Saudi Arabia's intelligence service to talk about brokering peace, Shinwari said. The next evening, the delegation was invited to break the daily fast with Saudi King Abdullah.

Hamidzada, the presidential spokesman, said no negotiations with the Taliban have yet taken place.

Shinwari, also the country's former chief justice, said the involvement of the Saudi king could help win over the Taliban.

"The Taliban may respect his request," Shinwari said.

He said King Abdullah had appointed Nawaz Sharif, the former prime minister of Pakistan, to mediate between the two sides. In an interview in Pakistan, Sharif, who was in power during part of the Taliban reign in Afghanistan, denied he had been formally asked to mediate but said he would be willing.

Shinwari, who supports Karzai, said talks between the two sides would soon be held in Dubai. He told the Tribune on Saturday that the Taliban and the government had each agreed to send two representatives for talks, an assertion that could not be confirmed.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujaheed, reached by telephone, denied that the militants planned to negotiate.

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The Associated Press