Prospects for US-Taliban talks rise after Ghani 'does his bit' with Afghan cease-fire

KABUL/WASHINGTON - Prospects have risen for negotiations between the Taliban and the United States after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani called a cease-fire and allowed militants to roam into cities in a gamble to encourage peace talks.

The Taliban, ousted from power in 2001 by US-led troops, insist that any negotiations with Afghan government on a peace plan can begin only after talks with the US about withdrawing foreign forces.

Analysts and Western diplomats said Ghani's offer to hold unconditional peace talks set the stage for US officials to open back-channel negotiations with the Taliban.

"Ghani has done his bit," said Thomas Ruttig, co-director of Afghanistan Analysts Network, an independent think tank.

"It is now for the US to cut through this blockade," he said, although that would be a departure from US policy that talks to end the 17-year-old war must be wholly Afghanled.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo appeared ready to tweak the policy when he welcomed Ghani's 10-day extension of a cease-fire that is currently due to end on Wednesday. The Taliban said its cease-fire ended on Sunday.

"As President Ghani emphasized in his statement to the Afghan people, peace talks by necessity would include a discussion of the role of international actors and forces," Pompeo said. "The United States is prepared to support, facilitate and participate in these discussions."

Richard Olson, a former US special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, described the statement as significant "in that it signals that the US is prepared to ultimately discuss the issue that is paramount to the Taliban, which is the withdrawal of foreign forces."

Nolen Johnson, a State Department spokesman, said Ghani had invited the US to "participate in an Afghan-led peace process", and there was no substitute to the Taliban engaging with the "sovereign" Kabul government.

A senior US official, speaking on the condition of anonymity before the start of the cease-fire, said, however, there were a number of issues that made direct talks between the Taliban and the US unlikely in the short term.

The official said there was a substantial gap in knowledge about the Taliban - for instance as to who had the authority to negotiate on their behalf. There is not enough intelligence or resources on this issue," the official said.

A second official said there was still a question of what would happen with hard line elements of the Taliban. "There are Taliban that won't come to the table," the official said.

Reuters

(China Daily 06/21/2018 page11)