As recently reported on this news site, four U.S. Members of Congress, including one Republican and one Democrat from Orange County, met in Berlin with leaders of what is being called the Afghan National Front. At the end of their meeting, the members of congress, plus four Afghan leaders issued a joint policy statement. See related article below.
It appears from OC Rep. Dana Rohrabacher’s statement that one of the concerns is Afghan political opposition will be excluded from the Afghanistan talks with the Taliban. This could lead to a willingness of Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai to carve out a power sharing deal with the Taliban, rather than require the Taliban to win any place in a future coalition government through democratic elections.
Since the Taliban are in the process of setting up a political office in Qatar, the issue of negotiating with the Taliban came up yesterday when U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton met with Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabor Al Thani.
After their meeting, Secretary Clinton reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to work with President Karzai’s government on the Taliban negotiations. She made no allowance for inclusion of any Afghanistan political opposition groups, including the newly formed National Front.
“We are prepared to support an Afghan-led process of reconciliation, and we will participate in that in support of the Afghans if we believe it holds promise for an end to the conflict,” said Secretary Clinton. “I have made it clear to President Karzai that we will work with him under his leadership.”
But, the trouble is, Karzai’s leadership apparently would not include the National Front representatives. Four leaders of the National Front, along with the four U.S. Members of Congress, signed the joint policy statement.
“We firmly believe that any negotiation with the Taliban can only be acceptable, and therefore effective, if all parties to the conflict are involved in the process,” the joint policy statement reads. “The present form of discussions with the Taliban is flawed, as it excludes anti-Taliban Afghans.”
In her remarks yesterday, Clinton had only support for the Taliban negotiations, which probably would transpire through the office in Qatar.
“We have been very grateful for the assistance that the Government of Qatar has provided,” Clinton said yesterday. “I think the positive statements last week from both President Karzai and the Taliban demonstrate that there is support for such discussions for the political office to open in Qatar.”
While Clinton did not even brush up against the concept of including the National Front in the upcoming negotiations, she did indicate a high level State Department official is traveling to Afghanistan and Qatar to move things along. Perhaps, this could create a chance for members of the National Front to get involved.
“I’ve asked our Special Representative, Ambassador Marc Grossman, to go to Afghanistan next week to continue our consultations with the Afghans, and also to go to Qatar to continue our consultations with our partners in Qatar,” Clinton said.
She also made clear certain conditions under which negotiations with the Taliban could proceed.
“We are still in the preliminary stages of testing whether this can be successful. And we remain committed to the red lines that we have consistently laid out, namely that both the Afghan Government and the international community must see the insurgents renounce violence, break with al-Qaida, and support the laws and constitution of Afghanistan, including protecting the rights of women and minorities,” Clinton said.
Given the Taliban’s history, Afghanistan’s anti-women traditions, and historical biases against women, it is a little difficult to imagine how women’s rights could be protected in such negotiations. Time will tell.
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About Dolores Barr, Publisher
Dolores Barr has lived in Rossmoor since 1992 and has created this site to provide local news for the people of Los Alamitos, Seal Beach, Rossmoor, Leisure World, Sunset Beach, and Surfside, California. My husband and I have had two students graduate from the Los Alamitos Unified School District and currently our Grandson, Ricky Apodaca, grade 3 at Weaver Elementary, is actively involved in youth baseball through LAYB and youth football through FNL.
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