Showing posts with label negotiations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label negotiations. Show all posts

Monday, March 12, 2012

High Peace Council Member Provides Insight on Negotiations with Taliban

A member of the Afghan High Peace Council, Maulvi Qalamuddin, provided an interview that gives some insight on the possible path that future negotiations with the Taliban may take.  Maulvi Qalamuddin is a former member of the Taliban and was the former deputy minister for the General Department for the Promotion of Virtue and Elimination of Vice during the Taliban regime.  He was appointed to the High Peace Council in September 2010 by President Karzai.  The High Peace Council is engaged in reaching out to Taliban leaders as well as overseeing the Afghan Peace and Reintegration Program (APRP).  Read more in "A new kind of Taliban: An interview with Maulvi Qalamuddin", AFPAK Channel, March 8, 2012.

Monday, February 20, 2012

Hizb-i-Islami Wants Seat at Negotiation Table

The Afghan insurgent group known as Hizb-i-Islami wants to ensure it has a seat at the negotiation table that will attempt to settle the Afghan War.  See "Afghan talks to fail without all groups - Hizb-i-Islami", Reuters, February 19, 2012. The group claims that if left out of the Afghan peace talks then they will likely continue to fight.

Afghan Women Worry about Karzai Taliban Negotiations

Afghan women are apprehensive about the prospects of the Taliban becoming part of the government as a result of negotiations conducted by the Taliban, U.S., and Karzai.  Read more in "Afghan Women Fear Backsliding As President Karzai Negotiates with Taliban", The Daily Beast, February 19, 2012.

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Afghan Women Concerned about Taliban Negotiations

Afghan women are alarmed about the possibility of a return by the Taliban as a result of either negotiations or victory after 2014.  The women of Afghanistan have enjoyed substantial gains in freedom of expression, ability to work, greater access to health care, educational opportunities, and even playing a role in the government under the constitution.  However, these gains could evaporate with a power-sharing deal with the Taliban at the negotiation table. Read more in a recent news article entitled "Afghan women fear Taliban return", AFP, February 12, 2012.  Learn more about women in Afghanistan.

Friday, February 11, 2011

Theories on Conflict Resolution and Afghanistan

The Afghanistan Analysts Network has published a document about theories on conflict resolution and how to apply it to Afghanistan.
"Despite the recent deployments of more troops and greater military resources to Afghanistan by the US-led Western coalition, there has been no abatement in the insurgency. It rather is increasing in lethality, territorial scope and mobilisation beyond their main base in the Pashtun ethnic group. As a result, doubts about the efficacy of conventional war-fighting, counter-insurgency and transition strategies grow and alternative means of mitigating the conflict come into sight.

The paper briefly discusses seven such theories and draws conclusions from them for peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan: ripeness theory, theories of mediation, theories of reconciliation, power-sharing theories, credible commitment theory, spoilers’ analysis and local peace-building. While such theories are not panacean, they can help to understand the conflict and point towards practical steps that can contribute to improve the prospects for peace. The authors point out, though, that as abstractions they must necessarily be adapted to circumstances."
Read or download the document (Adobe Acrobat PDF) at the following link:

"Peace offerings: Theories of conflict resolution and their applicability to Afghanistan", Matt Waldman and Thomas Ruttig, Afghanistan Analysts Network, January 2011.

Monday, February 7, 2011

Report Says Taliban May be Open to Negotiations and Break with al Qaeda

A recent news article states that the Taliban may be willing to break with al Qaeda and conduct negotiations for a peace settlement. Read more in the links below:

"Afghan Taliban would be open to talks: report", Yahoo News, February 7, 2011

"N.Y.U. Report Casts Doubt on Taliban's Ties with Al Qaeda", The New York Times, February 6, 2011

The report, sponsored by New York Univeristy's Center on International Cooperation, can be found on the website of the Human Security Report Project.  See "Separating the Taliban from al-Qaeda: The Core of Success in Afghanistan", February 1, 2011.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Negotiations Needed in Afghanistan

A columnist writes that we have lost the war and it is time to negotiate for peace.  Read his critique of the Afgahan War in "Afghanistan: Killing Peace", The Berkley Daily Planet, January 19, 2011.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

How to Leave Afghanistan? The Answer According to Ahmed Rashid - Negotiate with Taliban

A interesting article by Ahmed Rashid has been posted on The New York Review of Books website on how to end the war in Afghanistan.  Rashid is the author of a few books about the Afghan conflict to include Taliban and Descent into Chaos.

In his article Rashid addresses the impact of the recent parliamentary elections, the rise of influence of the non-Pashtun ethnic groups, and the growing wealth and independence of the north of Afghanistan from the central government.  He also presents the challenges to resolving the war citing problems associated with an un-trained Afghan army and police force, lack of government presence in some provinces (especially at the district level), the drug trade, a corrupt central government, the influence of Pakistan and Iran, and negotiations with the Taliban.  He concludes his article amplifying the last point - how to conduct negotiations for an end to the Afghan conflict with ten recommendations.  Read the article at "The Way Out of Afghanistan", The New York Review of Books, December 16, 2010.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Some Background on Talks with Taliban

The WikiLeaks documents are providing some insight behind the talks with the Taliban.  It would appear that in public Karzai is trying to work things out with the Taliban but secretly he has limits on how far he will accommodate them.  Read more in "WikiLeaks: Talks with the Taliban a non-starter", Reuters, December 5, 2010.

Fake Taliban Talks Embarrass Coalition

The U.S. military has been saying that the relentless pace of surgical drone strikes, Special Forces night raids, and conventional forces surge on the battlefield will force the Taliban to the negotiating table.  In fact, it has been assisting in talks between a supposedly high-ranking Taliban official and the Karzai government - paying money, arranging for safe passage, and providing flights on aircraft.  Now it seems that all are now embarrassed as they were getting scammed by a shop keeper from Pakistan.  Hmmmmmm.

Read more in "Goodspeed Analysis: Fighting a faceless enemy", The National Post, November 27, 2010.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Afghan Government in Secret Talks with Taliban

The Afghan government is in secret talks with the leadership of the Taliban.  There is great speculation about the motives of Karzai for doing this.  Some say he is serious about a resolution with the Taliban; others say it is an attempt to poke a stick in the eye of the United States to show his independence.  Read more on this topic in "Taliban in secret talks with Afghan President Karzai", The Christian Science Monitor, October 6, 2010.

Monday, October 11, 2010

Negotiating with the Taliban

There are reports that the Afghan government is in talks with the Taliban in an effort to come to an agreement for the end of the war.  Read an opinion on this event in "Could a deal with the Taliban end the war in Afghanistan?", The Washington Post, October 7, 2010.