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US backs talks with taliban { December 29 2007 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gcNG_xRlY13IlA1WX7Bwzn4c59UAD8TPS1A00http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gcNG_xRlY13IlA1WX7Bwzn4c59UAD8TPS1A00
US Backs Afghan Reconciliation Talks
By FISNIK ABRASHI
December 29, 2007
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The United States supports reconciliation talks with Taliban fighters who have no ties to al-Qaida and accept Afghanistan's constitution, the U.S. ambassador said Thursday.
William Wood said the U.S. is in favor of a "serious reconciliation program with those elements of the Taliban who are prepared to accept the constitution and the authority of the elected government" of President Hamid Karzai.
"The only place where we have concern would be the members of the Taliban with close connection to al-Qaida, the reason being that al-Qaida is an international threat, it is a global threat and we don't believe that there should be separate peaces with al-Qaida," he said.
At a news conference in Kabul, Wood also said the United States was not involved in the controversy over the expulsion of two senior officials from the European Union and U.N. But he said he was confident the EU and U.N. were acting with good intentions.
The government of Afghanistan had accused Michael Semple, the acting head of the EU mission, and Mervyn Patterson, an official with the U.N. mission in Afghanistan, of holding unauthorized talks with Taliban militants in the country's south.
The decision to expel them seems to be the result of a "misunderstanding" and lack of coordination with the government of Afghanistan, Wood said.
"In any situation like this, coordination, transparency and communication among the good guys is absolutely necessary," he said.
Karzai has voiced a growing interest in meeting with Taliban leaders to try to persuade them to join the government and put down their arms.
But the expulsion of the two officials could make some Western nations and international organizations wary of making their own overtures to the militants in an effort to end the insurgency, which has left over 6,300 people — mostly militants — dead this year alone.
Wood said Afghan and foreign troops have killed or arrested many Taliban field commanders and other militant leaders and thwarted their offensive operations.
As a result, there have been an increase in the flow of foreign fighters into the country and also a rise in terrorist attacks, he said.
"The leadership of the Taliban may have felt that they had lost so many leaders that they could not replace them easily with Afghans, or they may have felt that the morale among their troops was falling and they needed leaders of a more ideological character," Wood said.
Following a takeover earlier this month by Afghan, British and U.S. troops of the town of Musa Qala — which the Taliban had controlled since February — officials discovered drugs worth $500 million in street value, Wood said. Afghan officials have said that Musa Qala hosted dozens of heroin labs.
"No clearer proof can be found of the cooperative relationship between the Taliban, who used to dominate Musa Qala, and the druggers, who were using Musa Qala as a storehouse and the center for distribution," Wood said.
Wood said that the U.S. and its allies were stepping up their training of the country's security forces, with a particular focus on its troubled police force, which is often accused of corruption. The Afghan army will reach its target of 70,000 troops by the end of 2008, he said.
Wood also said that Iran "remains an ambiguous neighbor ... providing money to finance projects that are important to Iran inside Afghanistan."
"But there have also been instances in which weapons from Iran were found to be going to the Taliban," he said.
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Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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