We must negotiate with Taliban: Kouchner

Mon Aug 3, 2009, 4:28 am ET

PARIS (AFP) –

France still supports reaching out to the Taliban in Afghanistan despite a surge in attacks ahead of the August 20 elections, Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said in an interview Monday.

"Of course we must negotiate with the Taliban, at least with those who are ready to lay down their weapons and talk," Kouchner told Le Figaro newspaper.

A French soldier was killed Saturday north of Kabul on the same day as three US troops and two Canadians died in attacks. Three more US troops were killed Sunday.

July was the deadliest month in the allies' eight-year campaign against the Taliban, the Islamic militia that was ousted from Kabul by US-led forces in late 2001.

Any attempt to enlist the Taliban in negotiations must be endorsed by the government of President Hamid Karzai, Kouchner said, adding that the worst scenario would be for the allies to be leading separate efforts.

"We want to build peace with the Afghans, I would even say under the leadership of the Afghans," he stressed.

Kouchner said that only Saudi Arabia had been able so far to play a role in brokering talks between the Taliban and Karzai, but that these had not yielded concrete results.

"There are two types of Taliban," he said. "There are those who could take part in a legal government and President Karzai has said he is ready to welcome them to Kabul when they were ready to negotiate.

"And then there are the supporters of global jihad. They are refusing to negotiate."

The Taliban has called on Afghans to boycott the elections and ordered its fighters to block all roads to prevent voters from reaching polling stations on August 20, when presidential and provincial council elections will be held.

Top UN official in Afghanistan calls for talks with Taliban leadership, not just rank-and-file

By: FISNIK ABRASHI Associated Press 08/02/09 10:31 AM EDT

KABUL —

The top U.N. official in Afghanistan called Sunday for talks with Taliban leaders at the highest level, another indication that parts of the international community are reaching out to the top echelons of the Taliban resistance movement.

Kai Eide did not name Taliban leader Mullah Omar in his call for negotiations, but he dismissed plans that call for reaching out to only some militant commanders.

"If you want relevant results, you have to talk to those who are relevant. If you want important results, you have to talk to those who are important. If you only have a partial reconciliation process, you will have partial results," said Eide, a Norwegian diplomat who heads the United Nations mission to Afghanistan.

While the need for talks with the Taliban is recognized across the international community, the conditions attached to such proposals — and the timing of the talks — are a bone of contention.

President Hamid Karzai, facing a re-election challenge later this month, has repeatedly called for talks with Taliban leaders on condition that the Taliban fighters accept Afghanistan's constitution. Karzai has even personally guaranteed safe passage for Omar if he attends such talks.

Omar, who is believed to be hiding out in Pakistan, has publicly dismissed the overtures, calling Karzai an American puppet and saying no talks can happen while foreign troops are in the country.

But behind the public posturing, several Gulf countries are working on sketching out the contours of a political process that could eventually bring an end to the expanding conflict. The war is claiming a record number of lives among U.S. and NATO troops and Afghan civilians nearly eight years after the U.S. invaded the country and ousted the Taliban from power.

Eide's remarks follow calls made last week by David Miliband, the British foreign secretary, for talks with regular Taliban fighters.

Miliband said that while commanders committed to a global jihad must be pursued relentlessly, ordinary rank-and-file Taliban should be given the opportunity "to leave the path of confrontation with the government."

He said Afghanistan's government must develop "a political strategy for dealing with the (resistance) through reintegration and reconciliation" and "effective grass-roots initiatives to offer an alternative to fight or flight to the foot soldiers of the insurgency."

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Washington agrees with the British analysis of the way forward.

Eide said that his approach is more comprehensive.

"If you do want a comprehensive peace process, it is not enough to talk to the commanders on the ground," Eide said. "It is a political process, and I think you also have to approach the more political structures of the (resistance) movement," he said without naming any (resistance) leaders.