negotiations

Policy Disorientation. How the Taliban Get Away With Murder

April 25th, 2012

When an American soldier killed 16 civilians in Kandahar in March, condemnation was swift and it came from all sides of the war.

The US Government was quick to apologize, with US President Barack Obama stating, "The United States takes this as seriously as if it was our own citizens and our own children who were murdered." NATO immediately announced it was investigating the incident.

President Karzai, whose regime is financed in great part by US resources, slammed the US, saying to reporters a few days after the incident: "This has been going on for too long. You have heard me before. It is by all means the end of the rope here." Karzai, surrounded by media, paid visits to the victims' families and wore black for two days. He publicly participated in conspiracy theorizing that the soldier didn't really act alone, and the killings may have been planned and intentional, conspiracies that have otherwise been propagated by the likes of the Russian Government-owned RT.com and RAWA.org, and which helped add fuel to the flames in an already highly volatile situation.

The Taliban, for their part, immediately used the occasion to spurn out anti-American propaganda. They called US forces...More >>

A Moderate Taliban is Wishful Thinking

February 9th, 2012

Rachel Reid, of the Open Society Foundations, points out in Foreign Policy today that the evidence is simply not there that the Taliban are any more moderate than they were in 2001:

As the latest U.N. report on civilian protection shows, insurgents killed more than two thousand Afghan civilians in 2011. There has been a marked shift in their language on civilian protection - for instance the edict in the 2006 code of conduct to attack government schools is gone, the 2010 version of the Layha makes numerous injunctions to avoid harm to the ‘common people,' and outlines disciplinary measures for commanders who cause civilian harm. And yet the number of civilians killed has grown for the fifth year in a row, with the Taliban and other insurgent groups now responsible for almost 80% of the deaths. Targets last year included markets, offices, and protected sites such as mosques and hospitals.

As keen as many are for an exit from Afghanistan, perpetuating the myth of a Taliban that are any less psychopathic, deathcult and deranged than the ragtag band of illiterate mullahs hatched from ISI-sponsored madrassahs who hung children for "spying", bulldozed rock walls over men branded...More >>

Afghan MP Fawzia Koofi on Negotiations with the Taliban

October 31st, 2010

Here in Kabul, there is a lot of talk about negotiations with the Taliban, as the new Peace Council has been formed. Most of what I hear from Afghans is sharp criticism over who sits on the Peace Council, including of the nine women who were appointed. Their ability to protect women's hard-fought for rights has been questioned by women leaders. Many people question the legitimacy of the process, and particularly, the credibility of those who have been appointed. The exact method of negotiations is unclear, and there is anxiety over a presumed lack of transparency.

The progressive member of parliament for Badakhshan, in north eastern Afghanistan, Fawzia Koofi, shares some of her reflections on talking to the Taliban, in the article below. She asks whether Karzai's government has the right to forgive the Taliban for their crimes, without the agreement of their victims: a very fair question, and one which nobody in the Afghan Government has yet bothered to answer.

Lauryn Oates is a Contributing Writer for The Propagandist.

Excerpt from Talking to Taliban or Sacrificing Women Rights? by Fawzia Koofi

...More >>