13 die in Afghanistan amid calls for peace talks with insurgents

[Robb]

Source: Washington Post

KABUL -- Thirteen Afghan civilians died in violence on Sunday as the nation's hard-line vice president expressed hopes for a peace deal with insurgents, and as representatives of a militant group with ties to the Taliban brought their own draft of a deal to the capital.

(snip)

Harun Zarghun, chief spokesman for the militant group Hezb-e-Islami, said a five-member delegation was in Kabul to meet with government officials and to meet with Taliban leaders somewhere in Afghanistan. The group, which has longtime ties to al-Qaeda, was founded by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a prime minister in the 1990s who was a rebel commander in the war against the Soviets in the 1980s. Spokesmen for the Karzai government could not be reached for comment.

Khalid Farooqi, a member of the parliament from Paktika province, said that one delegation from Hezb-e-Islami arrived 10 days ago. A second one arrived on Saturday, including Qutbudin Halal, a powerful figure in the group.

Zarghun, the group's spokesman, said the delegation is carrying a 15-point plan that calls for foreign forces to start pulling out in July -- a full year ahead of President Obama's target to start withdrawing U.S. forces in July 2011. The plan also calls for the current Afghan parliament to serve through December. After that, the parliament would be replaced by an interim government, or shura, which would hold local and national elections within a year, according to the plan. Zarghun said a new Afghan constitution would be written, merging the current version with earlier ones.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/21/AR2010032102933.html

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That Hezb-e-Islami are the "peacemakers" in this situation should drive the final nail in the coffin of any notion of understanding Afghanistan politics. :D

[Arctic Dave]

1. This article is a totally different creation then the Reuters piece.

[DCBob]

2. So the Taliban are now ready to talk peace...

If true the war was worth it.

[Alamuti Lotus]

5. Hekmatyar & Hizb-i-Islami are not a Taliban organization

Hekmatyar was one of the warlords that the Taliban originally drove into exile, they are considered "allies" only in the sense that they currently agree on a common enemy. When Hekmatyar escaped from Iranian house-arrest when smelling blood in 2001, he originally presented his faction to the service of the invaders to act as one of the proxy militias to fight against the Islamic Emirate. They only turned him to the side of the resistance when the occupyers and their puppet Karzai did not offer a big enough piece of pie in return.

[DCBob]

6. Any peace talks with any "insurgents" is progress..

BTW, apparently there are "secret" peace talks going on with Taliban leaders.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20100322/wl_time/08599197392200

[Soylent Brice]

3. .

[Flaneur]

4. These guys are one insurgent faction.

This reminds me of the good old days after the mujahadeen drove out the Russians and the glorious liberating factions proceeded to fight amongst themselves, including bombing the hell out of Kabul, until the Taliban appeared on the horizon as saviors.