Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Taliban Set Stage For Peace Talks

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324520904578553300053268208.html?mod=e2tw
 
 
Taliban Set Stage For Peace Talks
 
By NATHAN HODGE And EHSANULLAH AMIRI
 
KABUL—The Taliban said they were opening an office in Qatar, paving the 
way for peace talks with envoys of Afghan President Hamid Karzai and 
with the U.S., an important step toward ending a conflict that has 
dragged on for over a decade.
 
The U.S. will have its first formal meeting with the Taliban within 
days—the first such contact since the group broke off preliminary talks 
with the U.S. last year—followed by a meeting between the Taliban and 
the High Peace Council, the body set up by Mr. Karzai to help reach out 
to the insurgency, a senior U.S. administration official said.
 
"The core of this process is not going to be the U.S.-Taliban 
talks—those can help advance the process—but the core of it is going to 
be negotiations among Afghans, and the level of trust on both sides is 
extremely low, as one would expect," the official said. "So it's going 
to be a long, hard process if indeed it advances significantly at all."
 
In a statement issued Tuesday, the Taliban said they were opening a 
"political office of the Islamic Emirate," the group's name for their 
administration, in the Persian Gulf emirate.
 
The Taliban last year began to establish a political office staffed with 
authorized representatives of Taliban leader Mullah Omar in Qatar, using 
that diplomatic channel for meetings with U.S. and other Western 
officials. Until now, however, the Taliban have refused to negotiate 
with Mr. Karzai's High Peace Council.
 
Mr. Karzai, too, has looked on the Taliban establishing a Qatar office 
with suspicion, and on Tuesday he repeated a demand that peace talks be 
moved to Afghanistan. "We don't have any immediate preconditions for 
talks between the Afghan peace council and the Taliban, but we have 
principles laid down," he said. "The principles are that the talks, 
having begun in Qatar, must immediately be moved to Afghanistan."
 
Mohammed Massoom Stanekzai, a senior adviser to Mr. Karzai, said the 
High Peace Council "will be responsible for leading the Afghan team."
 
The move comes amid a crucial transition for Afghanistan: Earlier on 
Tuesday, a high-profile ceremony in Kabul marked the formal handover of 
security responsibilities from the U.S.-led coalition to Afghan forces. 
The day was marred by a deadly bombing in the city, the latest reminder 
that the insurgency remains even as American troops prepare to go home.
 
During the ceremony at Afghanistan's National Defense University, Mr. 
Karzai described Tuesday's final round of the handover of security 
duties as an "historic event" for Afghanistan after over a decade of 
international military involvement.
 
"For the people of Afghanistan, this is…a great day," he said after the 
ceremony, which was attended by top-level Afghan officials and the 
secretary-general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. "The Afghan 
people see their own children, their own young ones, providing 
protection of their lives and their country."
 
The security transition signals an important shift. The U.S.-led 
International Security Assistance Force is slated to end its mission by 
the end of 2014, and coalition forces are in the process of closing 
bases and shipping out equipment.
 
"As your [forces step forward across the country, the main effort of our 
forces is shifting from combat to support," said NATO Secretary-General 
Anders Fogh Rasmussen. "We will continue to help Afghan troops in 
operations if needed. But we will no longer plan, execute or lead those 
operations."
 
Afghanistan had little resembling a cohesive national army after the 
U.S.-led invasion and the collapse of the Taliban regime in late 2001. 
Today, the country has a 350,000-strong military and police force. But 
Afghan officials and their coalition backers acknowledge that the Afghan 
troops, who are sustaining mounting casualties as American forces pull 
back, will remain heavily dependent on international support for the 
foreseeable future.
 
International donors have pledged to keep bankrolling the Afghan 
military and police after next year's withdrawal. Discussions are under 
way between Washington and Kabul about maintaining a small, residual 
U.S. force to conduct counterterrorism missions and oversee training of 
Afghanistan's fledgling security forces post-2014. Other nations have 
said they are willing to commit troops for a post-2014 training mission.
 
The Afghan forces have won praise in recent weeks for responding quickly 
and effectively to high-profile attacks by Taliban insurgents. But a 
deadly bomb blast that rocked western Kabul just as Tuesday's handover 
ceremony was getting under way—the third insurgent attack in the Afghan 
capital in 10 days—underscored the Taliban's persistent threat.
 
The target of Tuesday's bombing was powerful parliament member Mohammed 
Mohaqiq, a former ethnic Hazara warlord who was a leading member of the 
anti-Taliban Northern Alliance. While Mr. Mohaqiq was unharmed, three 
civilians were killed and several people, including six of his 
bodyguards, were injured in the attack near the office of the 
Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, police said.
 
"Due to security threats, I was not usually going to parliament, and I 
have been told to take care of myself," Mr. Mohaqiq said after the attack.
 
On Tuesday, as he decided to travel to a parliament session, "there a 
big boom and I did not understand, and then I saw lots of dust and 
smoke," Mr. Mohaqiq said. "My car was destroyed and its door blown off, 
but I am fine. The enemies of Afghanistan keep doing such things all the 
time, and I don't take it seriously."
 
Gen. Mohammed Zahir, head of the criminal investigative division of the 
Kabul police, said Tuesday's explosion was caused by a roadside bomb, a 
relatively rare type of attack inside the capital. Most of the recent 
Taliban operations in Kabul were carried out by suicide bombers.
 
The blast blew out windows of nearby markets, buildings and houses. 
Blood and shattered glass from the damaged vehicle was still on the 
pavement at midmorning.
-- 
Namib
.....
αἱ ψυχαὶ ὀσμῶνται καθ᾽ Ἅιδην (Eraclito)

 Sei sempre in tempo per un commento. Oppure non hai le palle? LOL
 
Le famose "palle da commento" :)


 KABULā€”The Taliban said they were opening an office in Qatar,
 
Il Qatar, ovviamente. 
Ormai č il centro di comunicazioni tra USA e terrorismo
islamico...altrettanto ovviamente nei tg non ne parlano
 
Ciao!
 
-- 
 
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 segnala gli abusi ad 
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 Per altro firmata abusivamente.
 
Ah, pensi che Nathan Hodge ed Ehsanullah Amiri non siano i veri autori 
del pezzo? Interessante... Puoi commentare? :)
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 Commento del commento
 
Ah, vai tranquillo: la pace è fallita ancor prima di nascere.
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