Afghan council head in India soon
India will discuss Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai’s peace overtures to the Taliban when it hosts Prof. Burhanuddin Rabbani, head of the Afghan High Peace Council, this week.
There was no official word from the government, but it was learnt that Mr Rabbani was expected to hold talks with the Indian leadership on Thursday.
Last year, a Jirga (tribal elders’ council) had approved President Karzai’s initiative to constitute a panel for starting peace talks with the Taliban. Prof Rabbani was chosen to lead the panel.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had met with Prof. Rabbani in Kabul during his visit to Afghanistan in May this year. On the occasion Dr Singh had spoken about India’s qualified support to the Afghan government’s peace talks with the Taliban.
India would not stand in the way of the talks provided certain red lines were adhered to: the peace process should be Afghan-led and Afghan-driven; the Taliban elements must have renounced violence and severed all links with the hardcore terrorists; and they should accept the constitution of Afghanistan.
Recently, President Karzai and former US defence secretary Robert Gates confirmed that preliminary contacts had been made with certain Taliban elements. According to reports, contacts had been established with Tayyab Agha, a former personal aide to Mullah Omar, and Motasim Agha Jan, Omar’s son-in-law.
US secretary of state Hillary Clinton has since described it as a necessary but unpleasant attempt to achieve a semblance of stability in Afghanistan. Clinton’s British counterpart, William Hague, in turn, has said that the UK played a key role in helping initiate the “distasteful” talks with the Taliban.
The situation in Afghanistan is expected to be one of the key points of discussion in the India — United States strategic
dialogue, which will be chaired by external affairs minister S.M. Krishna and Ms Clinton in New Delhi on July 19.
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