Top UN envoy holds talks with Afghan militant delegation

KABUL: The top UN envoy for Afghanistan met Thursday with delegates from the country’’s second-biggest militant group, who are in Kabul for talks on a possible peace deal, the UN mission said. Staffan de Mistura, the special UN representative in Afghanistan, met with delegates from Hezb-e-Islami, headed by warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who is black-listed as a terrorist by the United Nations and United States. “The special representative listened to their points and indicated that their visit in Kabul and the ongoing discussions with Afghan authorities further underscored the importance of Afghan-led dialogue in order to bring stability to this country,” a UN statement said. Hezb-e-Islami delegates had already met President Hamid Karzai during their visit and handed him a peace proposal, Karzai’’s office said on Monday. The UN statement said de Mistura’’s talks with the delegation took place “in consultation with President Hamid Karzai.” It gave no further detail. A Hezb-e-Islami spokesman said Monday that the 15-point plan submitted to Karzai included setting “a clear timeline for the withdrawal of foreign forces and another the formation of an interim administration.” Karzai’’s spokesman has said that the president is studying the plan. Karzai has been trying to bring militants in from the cold in a reconciliation programme aimed at quelling the eight-year-war. The plan gained international backing at a conference in London in January. The Taliban, who were ousted from government in a US-led push in 2001, are the biggest militant group battling Karzai’’s government and trying to force the more than 120,000 US and NATO troops out of Afghanistan. The Taliban leadership have publicly refused any talks with the Western-backed Karzai and demand all international troops leave the country. The United States accuses Hekmatyar of carrying out attacks alongside the Taliban and of being allied to Al-Qaeda. Hezb-e-Islami, known in the 1980s as a major anti-Soviet resistance force, had also said it would only hold peace talks when all foreign forces quit Afghan soil, but has shown more willingness to re-enter the political process. The group was passive during the 1996-2001 Taliban rule, but regrouped to launch a separate armed resistance, sharing many of the Taliban’’s goals, after the latter were overthrown in the US-led 2001 invasion. A peace agreement with the group would not be of huge significance, experts have said, as Hekmatyar, a former prime minister, has been making overtures to the Afghan political establishment for some time. But it could remove an irritant as Karzai pursues the bigger players behind the insurgency — the Haqqani network and the top Taliban leadership. Although the Taliban say they will not negotiate, de Mistura’’s predecessor Kai Eide, who left his post this month, said in a recent interview with the BBC that he had been holding secret talks with Taliban leaders for about a year. The Taliban denied the talks with Eide, but Karzai’’s office has also confirmed that it has been in contact with the Taliban with the intention of discussing an end to the insurgency. As Karzai touts his reconciliation platform, the United States is also implementing a surge designed to weaken the militants, with foreign troop numbers to swell to about 150,000 within months. While US officials support reintegration of low-level Taliban fighters, many believe the Taliban should be dealt a greater blow militarily in order to give the Afghan government a stronger hand in any eventual peace talks.

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Top UN envoy holds talks with Afghan militant delegation