Tuesday, October 7, 2008, Shawwal 7, 1429    

Afghan Govt, Taliban hold talks in S Arabia

London—Afghan government and Taliban held a secret round of peace talk in Saudi Arabia, US media reports revealed on Monday. Both sides agreed to resolve Afghan issue through dialogues, report said.

Talks hosted by Saudi King Abdullah held between September 24 and 27, were attended by former Taliban Commander Gulbadin Hikmatyar, eleven other delegations of Taliban and representatives of Afghan government. Taliban leader Mullah Omar was not present, the report said.

King Abdullah broke fast during the Eid-ul-Fitr holiday with the 17-member Afghan delegation an act intended to show his commitment to ending the conflict.

In the past, Saudi Arabia has generally dealt with Afghanistan through Pakistan.

The current round of talks is anticipated to be a first step in a long process. According to reports some sources said, it has taken two years of behind-the-scenes meetings to get to this point.

While Mullah Omar was not present at the talks in Makkah, the Taliban leader has made it clear he is no longer allied with al Qaeda a position that has never been publicly stated but emerged at the talks.

During the talks, all parties agreed that the only solution to Afghanistan’s conflict is through dialogue, not fighting. The source described the Makkah talks as an ice-breaking meeting where expectations were kept necessarily low.

Further talks are expected in Saudi Arabia involving this core group and others.

The reasons for Saudi Arabia’s involvement are numerous, including having the trust of the United States and Europe to play a positive role at a time when the conflict appears to be worsening and the coalition’s casualty toll is climbing.

Saudi Arabia was one of only three countries that recognized the Taliban leadership during its rule over Afghanistan in the 1990s, but that relationship was severed over Mullah Omar’s refusal to hand over al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.—AP

Report denied: Hizb-e-Islami and Taliban’s leader Mullah Omar has termed the news of Taliban’s negotiation with Afghan government as baseless and said that those who have negotiated with Afghan government were not Taliban’s representative.

Talking to media the Spokesman of Hizb-e-Islami Engineer Haroon Zarghoon has said that Hizb-e-Islami has not participated in the negotiation. He said that Taliban would never negotiate with Afghan government until the US and NATO forces would remain in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile Zabeeh Ullah, Spokesman of Mullah Umar has said that Taliban has no relation of negations with Afghan government. He termed it as an attempt by Afghan government to create differences between Taliban. He said that Mullah Abdus Salam Zaeef, Moulvi Abdul Wakeel Mutawakal and Maulana Rehmani were not their representatives now and also they could not present the stance of Taliban.