Taliban Embassy

The Obama administration has pushed for and got a Taliban embassy in Qatar and has offered to release high-ranking Taliban prisoners from Guantanamo Bay as a sign of good faith before talks begin. According to media US is considering releasing “high-risk detainee” Mohammed Fazl - a senior Taliban commander responsible for thousands of deaths in Afghanistan.

US officials have stated that the purpose of the Taliban political office is for “peace negotiations” - Taliban denies this claim.


Peace in our time

I think Obama is trying to set the record for pissing off the most people before the end of his term.

[quote]TigerTime wrote:
I think Obama is trying to set the record for pissing off the most people before the end of his term. [/quote]
x2

How big of an idiot do you have to be to think that peace talks with the Taliban can even exist!?!?! Obama is the most highly educated retard this country has ever seen.

[quote]Chip Duglass wrote:
How big of an idiot do you have to be to think that peace talks with the Taliban can even exist!?!?! Obama is the most highly educated retard this country has ever seen. [/quote]

Well, there are people out there who think that they can declare war on people that have not one single embassy, let alone a country.

Even better, there are people that think that “war time measures” are only temporary when the enemy does not have one single official that could sign a peace treaty.

Compared to that, giving the Taliban one stinkin embassy is peanuts.

Eh, Pakistan is just backing off a bit.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t the Taliban a group of religious fanatics who kills anyone who disagrees with them?


Joe Biden: ‘Look, the Taliban per se is not our enemy. That’s critical. There is not a single statement that the president has ever made in any of our policy assertions that the Taliban is our enemy because it threatens U.S. interests.’

[quote]Goodfellow wrote:
Correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t the Taliban a group of religious fanatics who kills anyone who disagrees with them?

[/quote]

Not according to the current Whitehouse administration.

[quote]Goodfellow wrote:
Correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t the Taliban a group of religious fanatics who kills anyone who disagrees with them? [/quote]

More or less.

They are also a front for the ISI/Pakistan to exert control over Afghanistan.

[quote] Peace with the Taliban has three main actors and a large unsupporting cast. The opening of a Taliban office in Qatar suggests a change of direction from one of the essential players, Pakistan. Previous attempts by senior Talibs to talk to the Americans and the Afghan government have been nixed by Pakistan, anxious to maintain a stranglehold over the Taliban movement and ensure that any peace process worked in Islamabadâ??s interests. Just last year when the media reported that Tayeb Agha, the former secretary to the Taliban supreme leader Mullah Omar, had been holding secret talks with German and American diplomats, his entire family in Pakistan was promptly put under house arrest.

The latest round of talks that led to the Qatar breakthrough was once again led by Mr Agha. Western experts in Kabul think the plan would never have got this far without a degree of Pakistani involvement, which in turn implies a measure of support from Islamabad.

America, the second big player, hopes that by dangling the possibility of releasing senior Taliban prisoners held in Guantanamo in exchange for a ceasefire, it can nurture a serious peace process. At the same time, American diplomats are talking tough, trying to convince the Taliban that they cannot win in the long-run, and have no chance of sweeping back to power and re-establishing their old regime.[/quote]

If there is going to be any stability and peace i afganistan, then the different interrests involved in the current conflict there must eventually sit down and make a deal for a future afganistan, thats how things work.

[quote]florelius wrote:
If there is going to be any stability and peace i afganistan, then the different interrests involved in the current conflict there must eventually sit down and make a deal for a future afganistan, thats how things work.
[/quote]

I agree with you. And how have you been florelius? Long time no talk.

Zeb

[quote]florelius wrote:
If there is going to be any stability and peace i afganistan, then the different interrests involved in the current conflict there must eventually sit down and make a deal for a future afganistan, thats how things work.
[/quote]

I agree, florelius…

But this is a region that’s been ruled by WarLords since before Alexander the Great; and it truly HAS earned it’s reputation as “The Graveyard of Civilizations”.

Is there still hope?

Mufasa

The Obama Five:

  • Mullah Khairullah Khairkhwa, Herat governor and acting interior minister. Khairkhwa is “directly associated to Usama Bin Laden (UBL) and Taliban Supreme Commander Mullah Muhammad Omar” and was “trusted and respected by both.” After 9/11 he “represented the Taliban during meetings with Iranian officials seeking to support hostilities against US and Coalition forces” and “attended a meeting at the direction of UBL, reportedly accompanied by members of HAMAS.” He is “one of the premier opium drug lords in Western Afghanistan” and was likely “associated with a militant training camp in Herat operated by deceased al-Qaida commander (in Iraq) Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.”

  • Mullah Mohammed Fazl, deputy defense minister. Fazl is “wanted by the UN for possible war crimes while serving as a Taliban Army Chief of Staff and was implicated in the murder of thousands of Shiites in northern Afghanistan during the Taliban reign.” He has “operational associations with significant al-Qaida and other extremist personnel,” was “involved in Taliban narcotics trafficking,” and is so senior in the Taliban hierarchy that he once threatened the Taliban’s supreme leader, Mullah Omar. Military officials assess that Fazl wields “considerable influence throughout the northern region of Afghanistan and his influence continued even after his capture” adding, “If released, [Fazl] would likely rejoin the Taliban and establish ties with anti-Coalition militias (ACM) participating in hostilities against US and Coalition forces in Afghanistan.”

  • Abdul Haq Wasiq, deputy minister of intelligence. Wasiq “was central to the Taliban’s efforts to form alliances with other Islamic fundamentalist groups to fight alongside the Taliban against US and Coalition forces.” He “utilized his office to support al-Qaida and to assist Taliban personnel elude capture. arranged for al-Qaida personnel to train Taliban intelligence staff in intelligence methods” and “assigned al-Qaida members to the Taliban Ministry of Intelligence.” If released “he is likely to pose a threat to the US, its interests and allies.”

  • Mullah Norullah Noori, governor-general of Afghanistan’s northern zone. Noori “is considered one of the most significant former Taliban officials detained at JTF-GTMO” who “led troops against US and Coalition forces” and “was directly subordinate to Taliban Supreme Leader Mullah Omar.” He “is wanted by the UN for possible war crimes,” is “associated with members of al-Qaida,” and is assessed “to be a hardliner in his support of the Taliban philosophy.” He “continues to be a significant figure encouraging acts of aggression and his brother is currently a Taliban commander conducting operations against US and Coalition forces. (Analyst note: Detainee would likely join his brother if released.”)

  • Mohammad Nabi, multiple leadership roles. Nabi is “a senior Taliban official” who was “a member of a joint al-Qaida/Taliban ACM cell in Khowst and was involved in attacks against US and Coalition forces.” He “held weekly meetings” with “three al-Qaida affiliated individuals” to discuss anti-coalition plans, “maintained weapons caches,” and “facilitated two al-Qaida operatives smuggling an unknown number of missiles along the highway between Jalalabad and Peshawar,” which intelligence officials believe contributed to the deaths of two Americans.

‘All have close ties to al-Qaeda and other extremist groups. All been assessed by our military as posing a “high risk” of returning to the fight if released. And we know from painful experience what happens when hardliners like these are released from Gitmo. In 2007, the Bush administration released a Taliban leader named Mullah Zakir to Afghan custody. Unlike these five, he was assessed by our military as only “medium risk” of returning to the fight. They were wrong. Today, Zakir is leading Taliban forces fighting U.S. Marines in Helmand province, and according to former intelligence officials I spoke with, he has provided the Taliban with an exponential increase in combat prowess.’

Meet the boys:

http://www.afghan-bios.info/index.php?option=com_afghanbios&id=2482&task=view&total=2428&start=648&Itemid=2

[quote]ZEB wrote:

[quote]florelius wrote:
If there is going to be any stability and peace i afganistan, then the different interrests involved in the current conflict there must eventually sit down and make a deal for a future afganistan, thats how things work.
[/quote]

I agree with you. And how have you been florelius? Long time no talk.

Zeb[/quote]

Life have been good lately for me and I hope its been good to you too.

Florelius

[quote]Mufasa wrote:

[quote]florelius wrote:
If there is going to be any stability and peace i afganistan, then the different interrests involved in the current conflict there must eventually sit down and make a deal for a future afganistan, thats how things work.
[/quote]

I agree, florelius…

But this is a region that’s been ruled by WarLords since before Alexander the Great; and it truly HAS earned it’s reputation as “The Graveyard of Civilizations”.

Is there still hope?

Mufasa[/quote]

Well my opinion is that its hope for a brighter future for Afganistan alsong as it doesnt get invaded again or are cast into yet another civil war. What that country needs is a period of peace, so a stabile fundation for a functioning society can bee made. Decades of occupations, tyranny, terror and bloodshed arent really the right prescription for peace and stability!

I do however see your concerns, but our options as spectaters are to either dont give a damn or to have a hope for a brighter future for the afgani people.

Florelius

[quote]SexMachine wrote:
The Obama Five:[/quote]

I think there was another poster who suggested they should be released with a microchip surgically inserted “up their asses” so that we know where to send the missiles. I cannot disagree with this opinion.

[quote]Gambit_Lost wrote:

[quote]SexMachine wrote:
The Obama Five:[/quote]

I think there was another poster who suggested they should be released with a microchip surgically inserted “up their asses” so that we know where to send the missiles. I cannot disagree with this opinion. [/quote]

Lol. Neither can I.

not the first time

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/west_asia/37021.stm

[quote]Bambi wrote:
not the first time

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/west_asia/37021.stm[/quote]

That article isn’t meaningful without the background.

After the fall of the Soviet Union the first company to invest in Turkmenistan was the Argentinian company Bridas. Then in July 1995 they discovered a huge gas reserve at the Yashlar field with estimated reserves of 27 tcf - which is more than double Pakistan’s total gas reserves. Pakistan has an energy crisis of course. Turkmenistan then reneged on their contracts with Bridas and began dealings with Unocal.

Unocal created a consortium and proposed a pipeline through Afghanistan to Pakistan. US state department’s goal was to open up the new CARs to western markets, draw them away from Russia and Iran and help contribute to stability in the region. This was discussed at meetings between Unocal executives, CIA and state department in 1995.

Bridas CEO Bulgheroni met with Ismael Khan in Herat, President Rabbani and Ahmad Shah Mahsud in Kabul, Abdul Rashid Dostum in Mazar-e-sharif and the Taliban in Khandahar.

Bridas’s consortium included a 10% holding by the Russian state and a 15% holding by Saudi company Ningarcho - Ningarcho was Prince Turki’s company - Prince Turki heads the most powerful Saudi intelligence apparatus that aided the Taliban.

“Unocal was at a disadvantage because its policy towards the Taliban did not deviate from the US line and consequently Unocal lectured the Taliban on what they should be doing. Bridas had no such compunctions and was ready to sign a deal with the Taliban” - Taliban by Ahmad Rashid

“Washington’s top priority was conflict resolution” - Strobe Talbott

March 1996 US Ambassador to Pakistan Tom Simmons attempts to persuade Benazir Bhutto to forego Bridas and work with Unocal. She flies into a rage, accuses him of extortion and demands an apology in writing which she receives.

Taliban captures Kabul in September 1996. Unocal still “would not construct the pipeline or discuss commercial terms with the Taliban” as per US state department policy.

Unocal met with Taliban leaders but as Ahmed Rashid explains: “Taliban leaders said that they preferred Bridas, because Bridas made no demands upon them while Unocal was urging them to improve their human rights image and to open talks with the anti-Taliban alliance - the main plank of US foreign policy.”