THE US has given its blessing for
the Taliban to be brought in from the cold with a critical step towards
reconciliation as the world paused to mark the 10th anniversary of the
9/11 attacks.
Washington has endorsed plans for the Islamist network to open
political headquarters in the gulf state of Qatar by the end of the
year. The move has been devised so the West can begin formal peace talks
with the Taliban.
As a potent reminder of the potential value of a
truce with the Taliban, attacks by the Islamist network in Afghanistan
yesterday left two dead and 101 wounded in a truck bomb, marking one of
the bloodiest days for American forces since the US invasion 10 years
ago.
The office of the self-styled Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan
would be the first internationally recognised representation for the
Taliban since its fall in 2001.
The White House declined to
comment on the development last night as Mr Obama addressed the nation
on the anniversary of the al-Qa'ida attacks. In the decade since, there
has been a shift in Washington's attitudes towards the Taliban and a
growing official distinction between the Pashtun nationalists and their
former allies in al-Qa'ida.
Western diplomats said it was hoped the opening of the Taliban
office would help to advance talks intended to reconcile insurgents with
the Afghan government and bring an end to the decade-long US-led war.
Qatar
is believed to have agreed to host the office after Washington insisted
that it be located outside Pakistan's sphere of influence. The Afghan
government has accused Islamabad of meddling in several previous efforts
to negotiate with Taliban intermediaries in an effort to preserve its
influence inside Afghanistan.
Western officials said the opening
of the office would serve as a confidence-building measure in the
lead-up to what they hope will become formal talks towards ending the
war.
It would be an address where they had a political office,
said one Western diplomat. It would not be an embassy or a consulate but
a residence where they could be treated like a political party.
The
diplomat stressed the Taliban would not be permitted to use the office
for fundraising or in support of their armed struggle in Afghanistan. It
is understood the Taliban is seeking assurances that its
representatives in Doha, the Qatari capital, would be free from the
threat of harassment or arrest.
The initiative follows more than a
year of informal stop-start talks between Western diplomats and a
senior representative of the Taliban, Tayyab Agha, at the home of a
former Taliban diplomat in Qatar.
Abdul Hakim Mujahid, the former
Taliban ambassador to Islamabad and one-time envoy to the UN in New
York, said Mr Agha was negotiating with the personal authority of the
Taliban's supreme leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar. Western diplomats said
there was little hope of brokering a end to the conflict without his
blessing. Previous attempts at negotiations have foundered over the
credentials of intermediaries.
Mr Mujahid said the Taliban was
seeking to develop its direct contacts with the US because it had little
faith in Afghan President Hamid Karzai's ability to honour promises
without US backing.
Additional reporting: Jerome Starkey, Kabul
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