WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Saturday did not rule out the possibility of direct talks between US officials and Taliban leaders but warned that such speculations at this stage were not useful.
In an interview to Bloomberg Radio, the chief US diplomat separated the process of reintegration with that of reconciliation, saying that while the Taliban foot soldiers were already being reintegrated into the Afghan mainstream, reconciliation with the Taliban leaders was also possible.
Asked if a US official could participate in a meeting with the Taliban leaders to feel out what was their thinking, Secretary Clinton said: “I don’t think it’s useful to speculate about what might or might not be done because so much of it depends upon assessments that can’t really be made from afar.”
US military commanders, she said, were very committed to this process, growing out of their experience in Iraq. “They believe that the work they did in Iraq … helps to ensure the success of the surge.”
Secretary Clinton, however, pointed out that the peace process in Iraq “was kept quiet” and was “done very thoughtfully, so I think it’s probably wiser not to be speculating about what we will or won’t do.”
In a separate statement issued in Paris, she also confirmed a reported meeting between some Taliban leaders and a UN envoy on Jan 6 in Dubai. But she said that Kai Eide, the UN special representative to Kabul, wanted to draw “his own conclusion about the mindset of some of the Taliban members”.
Secretary Clinton, in an interview on Friday, also displayed a similar attitude towards the Taliban leadership, saying that a peace initiative unveiled in London on Thursday did not apply to senior Taliban leaders like Mullah Omar.
But senior Western officials in Kabul said that despite such tough talk, both sides had made efforts to reach out to each other. They confirmed the meeting between the UN envoy and some Taliban leaders, describing it as “a first step” towards setting up future talks.
“It’s certainly not an initiative where Mullah Omar has reached out and said, ‘Let’s have dinner’. This is trying to peel someone out from the inner circle who may want to discuss,” one such official told the Washington Post.
In her interview to Bloomberg, Secretary Clinton said the US goal was to stabilise Afghanistan, transition security to the Afghan forces, and bring its troops home while maintaining an ongoing civilian diplomatic relationship with Afghanistan into the future.
Explaining the distinction between reintegration and reconciliation, Secretary Clinton noted that reintegration referred to the foot soldiers: “The folks on the battlefield who want to get off of it, who want to return to their village and resume a normal life. That literally is happening all the time.”
However, there had not been an organised effort to provide protection and income substitution for the fighter who surrendered to a Nato commander and who then nobody knew what to do with, she added.
“They had promises made to them which haven’t necessarily always been fulfilled. And I think there’s a strong conviction on the part of our military commanders that there’s a real opportunity to accelerate the movement of Taliban soldiers away from the Taliban.”
The reconciliation talks, Mrs Clinton said, were more about the political process where leaders would make peace. Afghan President Hamid Karzai, she said, was putting together some standards and descriptions of what that process would mean.
The US, she said, was “obviously very interested” about how that comes out but has also made clear that it wanted to protect the interests of the ordinary person.
“We want to honour the memory of not only our American soldiers, but the soldiers from every country, the soldiers of Afghanistan, others who have made a sacrifice. And I particularly am concerned about not doing anything that turns the clock back on Afghan girls and women,” she added.
Mrs Clinton warned that trying to resolve a conflict was difficult and required a lot of patience. “The international community, including the United States, supports the objectives, but obviously, the details matter,” she said.
Popularity: 1% [?]
Hello there, I found your web site via Google while searching for a related topic, your website came up, it looks great. I’ve bookmarked it in my google bookmarks.
Hello there! Would you mind if I share your blog with my twitter group? There’s a lot of people that I think would really enjoy your content. Please let me know. Thank you
What i don’t realize is actually how you are not really much more well-liked than you may be now. You are very intelligent. You know therefore considerably in relation to this matter, made me in my opinion believe it from numerous numerous angles. Its like men and women are not fascinated unless it is something to accomplish with Girl gaga! Your own stuffs excellent. Always deal with it up!
you have an incredible blog here! would you wish to make some invite posts on my blog?
Thank you a bunch for sharing this with all of us you actually realize what you’re speaking about! Bookmarked. Kindly also talk over with my website =). We may have a link exchange contract between us!
Thanks for your submission. Another factor is that being photographer consists of not only difficulty in taking award-winning photographs but additionally hardships in establishing the best dslr camera suited to your needs and most especially issues in maintaining the quality of your camera. This is very accurate and noticeable for those photography enthusiasts that are directly into capturing this nature’s captivating scenes – the mountains, the actual forests, the particular wild or perhaps the seas. Going to these adventurous places undoubtedly requires a digicam that can meet the wild’s nasty environments.
What i don’t realize is actually how you are not actually much more well-liked than you might be right now. You’re very intelligent. You realize thus significantly relating to this subject, produced me personally consider it from so many varied angles. Its like women and men aren’t fascinated unless it’s one thing to do with Lady gaga! Your own stuffs nice. Always maintain it up!
That woman is just fantastic, I mean a lot seems to think she is dumb but that’s just an act, it does require some skills to become one of the most famous people in the world.
haha i read your blog quite a lot you should check out mine <3 i love your posts.
Great post! I’ve been out of the loop with Taylor Swift lately. I hope she is doing well and has a great career.
That rss option on your blog here is awesome, you should tell people about it in your next post. I haven’t noted it for the first couple of times, now I’m using it every morning to check on any updates. I’m on a very slow dial-up link in Australia and it’s rather baffling to sit there and wait for such a long time ’til the page loads… but hey, I just found your rss page and added it to the Google Reader and voil? – I’m always up-to-date! Well buddy, keep up the good work and make that rss button a little bigger so that other people can enjoy that as well