quote:
Aug. 17, 2006. 02:39 PM
CANADIAN PRESSKANDAHAR, Afghanistan (CP) — High-stakes talks involving Canadian and other NATO officials were underway today that could see insurgents put down their weapons in a key Taliban stronghold in southern Afghanistan.
The clandestine negotiations, led by Afghan authorities but involving NATO intermediaries, were being held as hundreds of Taliban fighters amassed within two kilometres of a Canadian outpost west of Kandahar, preparing for battle.
The unprecedented talks are so sensitive that, officially, NATO insisted it was not in direct contact with Taliban leaders.
“ISAF hasn’t been approached by any faction of the Taliban,” said Canadian Forces Maj. Scott Lundy, a NATO spokesman. “At this point, no official involvement.”
However, intermediaries quietly got involved after Taliban leaders insisted on talks with NATO’s International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF, or other international facilitators, rather than with the Afghan government, The Canadian Press has learned.
“In fact, they are scared of the government,” an Afghan official said of the Taliban leadership, on condition of anonymity.
“Their requirements are to talk with (ISAF) or with the (UN). ... They trust these two organizations more than anyone else.”
Lundy acknowledged NATO was at least aware that talks were going on. “There is a dialogue underway already with some Taliban in Kandahar province,” he said.
Sources said as many as 1,500 Taliban fighters had converged by today in three villages in Panjwaii, where Canadian soldiers have faced their biggest battles since taking a lead role in southern Kandahar province in February.
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posted 17 August 2006 03:04 PM
