US Supports Talks With Taliban

US-led forces have provided transportation for Taliban leaders to cross Pakistan's border as secret talks begin between the Afghan government and the Taliban.

More details have emerged about US-led forces providing security for top Taliban leaders crossing the Pakistani border into Afghanistan. The following is the transcript of Press TV's interview with Ahmad Shah Ahmadzai, a former Afghan Prime Minister, in this regard.

Press TV: Reports of contacts between the Karzai government and the Taliban are nothing new. The different this time, though, is that NATO and the US are also involved. But the question is how far will the two sides get with the talks?



Ahmad Shah Ahmadzai: The first thing is that the great need, the great demand of the whole Afghans is the peace and the peace process. Everybody is very anxious to see the peace process in this country.

Number two, and now we are coming to the practical steps towards this peace, when the new thing, as you said, the Taliban are brought by helicopters from the border side to the capital Kabul. And this does not mean that the peace negotiation is very serious and that will come with a positive result.

The problem is, number one, these figures are hidden in Kabul, nobody knows who they are. And if they open their to the public, we can see whether they are reliable? Are they a main figure in Taliban movement or not?

Number two, is that the Taliban announced that they will withdraw all the NATO forces from Afghanistan, and there is no any side of the withdrawal, and this is the big and very, very important condition of the Taliban that all the Afghans are also agreeing with this, that the foreign forces must leave Afghanistan.

This has not talked, and nobody knows are the Americans and NATO serious that they will withdraw. What will happen when they withdraw? This is the main important issue and condition from the Taliban side.

And the other thing is number three - the Kabul authorities' concern, the Taliban repetitively announced that they do not recognize Kabul as a power force in Afghanistan.

Power forces are NATO and the Americans. Nobody knows the intentions of the NATO forces and the Americans. As far as we hear from the international media, the NATO chief who is Anders Fogh Rasmussen, he's started the killing. Nobody has heard a good word from this gentleman, that he shows he is willing towards peace. He's always saying, and plus the prison commander of the NATO, they are after to kill the Taliban, especially their leadership. And they believe that within July 2011 they will kill the leadership, they will get rid of the Taliban leadership by July 2011.

Press TV: They have been saying the same thing, Mr. Ahmadzai, since the war began, we haven't seen that happening in Afghanistan. You talked about peace and you also talked about the main aim of the US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, fighting a war that has been going on for more than nine years. If the aim was to remove the Taliban, at the beginning, why are they trying to reintegrate them into the political process?

Ahmad Shah Ahmadzai: The other problem is that at the beginning, they completely disregarded the power of the Taliban and also their deep roots in the nation. This is another mistake they committed from the beginning of born argument.

Now since they are creating this problem, everybody is hoping that they should find the peaceful and easy way without killing the human beings. If they are killing Taliban, they are, they should also think that they are losing their soldiers, and this is not in the interest of anybody. The main thing that the Taliban and the nation want is that they want the Americans to clear their position.

When they want to withdraw all, they don't. So if they don't, then there is no peace negotiation…. If they are not saying they were there, they will insist killing, fighting, until they defeat the Taliban, then this also seems impossible.

So the problem is the sooner the peace is in the interest of all groups, especially, in the interest of the Afghan nation. We are involved in, engaged in the war for the last, more than 30 years. And this nation should be looked after. All those who are talking about human rights, they must think of the Afghans, at least they are human beings.

Where are the human observers in Afghanistan to see why these innocent people are getting killed? Why the peace process is behind the doors, why not openly?

Press TV: You're using the word “peace” quite often. Do you think the withdrawal of foreign forces will lead to peace between the Karzai government and the Taliban?

Ahmad Shah Ahmadzai: The problem is, the first thing is, the main problem in Afghanistan is the existence of the foreign troops. This is the main problem and obstacle toward an established government coming to Afghanistan. After that, there are some people that are worried about what will happen after the foreign troops withdraw, after the foreign troops leave. This is another issue that we have the solution for that provided by somebody who sits, talks and discusses it. That's easy, that's not that much serious as they are thinking.

LF/PKH