Tough terms stymie Afghan talks: Ex-Taliban envoy

KABUL (Reuters) - Attempts to bring Afghanistan’s Taliban to the negotiating table will struggle if parties stick to tough prior terms, including Western sanctions and blacklists imposed on insurgent commanders, a former Taliban envoy said.

President Hamid Karzai says he has opened unofficial contacts with the Taliban as a step towards ending a war now entering its 10th year, with foreign casualties at their highest since the country’s former hardline Islamist rulers were ousted in 2001.

Karzai and U.S. officials demand Taliban commanders renounce violence, cut any ties to the al Qaeda network and respect the constitution. Taliban commanders in turn demand foreign troops leave Afghanistan before any negotiations can happen.

“In my personal view, with these kind of preconditions it is not workable, it will create more obstacles,” Abdul Hakim Mujahid, a former Taliban U.N. representative and now a member of Karzai’s newly formed peace council, told Reuters.

“First things first, to remove the obstacles, which are in the hands of foreign forces and not in the hands of Karzai’s government. Karzai himself has declared clearly several times that ‘I do not have any black and white lists.’”

Karzai’s 68-member peace council has yet to define its role in any negotiations. But Muhajid is the second member to suggest Karzai has given it room to be more flexible on the conditions.

Atta Ullah Ludin, a lawmaker, said this week he saw Karzai’s decision not to interfere with the council’s decisions as a signal he was backing away from long-held demands.

A former Taliban representative in New York, Mujahid was only recently taken off a U.N. Security Council blacklist of militants subject to sanctions.

BLACKLISTS AND RED LINES

The U.S. has backed Karzai’s peace effort as President Barack Obama comes under growing pressure over a war in which more than 2,000 foreign troops have died, over half in the last two years.

But any talks could be stymied if his Western allies baulk at attempts to ease what Washington has called its “red lines” -- the strict conditions it sees as vital to its interests, including rejecting al Qaeda and laying down arms.

Other regional players may also be nervous about a deal that allows a hardline group into power on their doorstep.

Karzai has long sought to remove some Taliban from U.N. blacklists to smooth the way to negotiations with more moderate members of the movement, but recently faced particular resistance from Russia over concerns about terrorism and Islamic fundamentalism.

And the Taliban have so far rejected negotiations. They have gained militarily in recent years, with the insurgency spreading from the southern heartland to the once more peaceful north despite the presence of more than 150,000 foreign troops.

But Muhajid said he believed an offer from a third country, such as Pakistan or Turkey, to host talks would be key to tempting Taliban leaders to come in from the cold.

“They did not express that they are willing to talk, because they do not believe in the whole process. They believe this is a tool of propaganda,” he said of the insurgents.

“An impartial country can provide the conditions so that some members of the council can meet them. As a start.”