US commander signals peace talks with Taliban

[Lethal]

Nato's top commander in Afghanistan has said increased troop levels could bring a negotiated peace with the Taliban.

US Gen Stanley McChrystal told the UK's Financial Times newspaper that there had been "enough fighting".

He said a political solution in all conflicts was "inevitable". His remarks came as the top UN envoy in Kabul said it was time to talk to the militants.

Afghan and Pakistani leaders are in Turkey to discuss tackling the Taliban-led insurgency in their countries.

This is the fourth such meeting initiated by Turkey, which has offered to broker talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban.

Both Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his Pakistani counterpart, Asif Ali Zardari, will attend an international conference on Afghanistan in London on Thursday.

'Focus on the future'

"I'd like everybody to walk out of London with a renewed commitment, and that commitment is to the right outcome for the Afghan people," Gen McChrystal told the Financial Times.



He said the arrival of the extra 30,000 US troops pledged by President Obama and the additional 7,000 troops promised by other Nato countries should deliver "very demonstrably positive" progress in 2010.

But he warned that the level of Taliban violence could increase sharply this year.

The Taliban wanted to create the perception that Afghanistan was on fire, and that President Karzai and his Western allies could not cope, Gen McChrystal said.

However, if the new US-led strategy was successful, the militants "could look desperate" in a year's time, he said.

"I think they will look like an entity that will be struggling for its own legitimacy... I think they will be on the defensive militarily, not wiped out."

On the issue of reconciliation, Gen McChrystal said: "I believe that a political solution to all conflicts is the inevitable outcome. And it's the right outcome."

Asked if he thought senior Taliban could have a role in a future Afghan government, he said: "I think any Afghans can play a role if they focus on the future, and not the past.

"As a soldier, my personal feeling is that there's been enough fighting," Gen McChrystal added.

'Time has come'

In an interview with the New York Times, United Nations special representative Kai Eide called for some senior Taliban leaders to be removed from a UN list of terrorists, as a prelude to direct talks.

"If you want relevant results, then you have to talk to the relevant person in authority," Mr Eide said. "I think the time has come to do it."

President Karzai recently told the BBC that he planned to introduce a scheme to attract Taliban fighters back to normal life by offering money and jobs.

He said he would offer to pay and resettle Taliban fighters to come over to his side.

Mr Karzai said he hoped to win backing for his plan from the US and UK at the London conference.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/8478076.stm

[Golden arm]

thats a good news for the region!

[161]

What worked in Iraq isn't going to work in Afghanistan.

Taliban are a different breed all together and I'm sure Pakistanis remember what happened when we tried to negotiate with these brainwashed crazies.

[hussain_0216]

They cant beat them so they are trying to bribe them. The Taliban are succeeding in grinding down the U.S and griding down NATO.

They are trying to look for ways to run away now.


In iraq they knew that the shia militias wouldn't keep fighting because there people were in power and had gained control in iraq, the problem were the sunni arabs who had lost power the turning point in iraq was not the surge which would have ultimately been futile it was the fact that they had to pay 100,000 sunni fighters to not fight


In Afghanistan the afghans are good at playing the double game, they will take the money and still kill american and nato troops.


Ultimatley the Taliban have done very well in grinding the americans down and forcing them into this situation where they openly want to talk to and deal with the Taliban.

[the Great Khan]

lol..the game is turning again.. with Pakistans insistence on being involved and the fact that the US have asked the Indians to play a bigger role with perhaps Indian troops replacing some NATO forces after 2011, the US is looking for a way out..as Pakistan has said only a negotiated peace can work,, one which includes the Taliban and helps secure our western border..

they have failed to destabilise Pakistan via the TTP, and with the shooting down of a drone yesterday and the militarys insistance that a major assualt in north waziristan is unlikley until 2011 at best, the US is running out of time..peace talks are the only way..!

[insaftak]

London conference on Afghanistan is coming in two days

Pakistan Afghanistan and turkey met yesterday to get on same page

Pakistan Iran and Afghanistan have said that only neighbors should be involved in stabilizing afghanistan (keeping india out, which USA and Nato wants)

UN wants to remove taliban leaders from terrorist list (probably with American backing)

drone mysteriously shot down in North waziristan

Pakistan refuses more military operations in FATA.

USA wants to put talibans on their payroll,

combine everything and you are looking at an exist strategy for the americans and Nato from Afghanistan

[saadjhussain]

America to Pakistan - "there is no such thing as good taleban, you cannot differentiate between them"

now they want peace talks with good and bad, hypocrites.

[Cheguvera]

Originally Posted by kashif77 What worked in Iraq isn't going to work in Afghanistan. Taliban are a different breed all together and I'm sure Pakistanis remember what happened when we tried to negotiate with these brainwashed crazies.

On the contrary Americans sabotaged the peace agreement by conducting drone attacks in which Nek Mohammad was killed...Since then the Tribal area Pukhtuns stopped trusting underpaid american mercenaries and rightly so...

Talks won't succeed in Afghanistan because unlike Iraq, the majority population is totally marginalized and a minority ethnic group has been given full control of the country and pukhtuns feel under siege...Also, unlike Iraqis/arabs, pukhtun psyche doesn't allow for foreign occupation, that too one which is lead by an entity, US, which is totally antithetical to the pukhtun way of life...