"The Taliban has continued fighting despite signals that they are willing to talk peace with the United States at a new office in Qatar. In the eastern province of Laghman, four people on their way home from a wedding were killed. Taliban fighters ambushed a national police patrol in western Afghanistan, and on the other side of the country in Ghazni province.... --more--"
"Afghan leader says Taliban attack won’t block peace talks; Karzai dismisses assault on palace as small setback" by David Rising | Associated Press, June 30, 2013
KABUL — President Hamid Karzai said Saturday that his government is still willing to start talks with the Taliban, easing concerns that a brazen attack by the group on the presidential palace last week would derail Afghanistan’s nascent peace process.
In a joint news conference with visiting British Prime Minister David Cameron, he urged the militant group to return the negotiating table. He dismissed the attack as ‘‘peanuts’’ and said it would not deter his government from seeking peace....
‘‘I believe a window of opportunity is open and I will urge all of those who renounce violence, who respect the constitution, who want to have a voice in the future prosperity of this country to seize that opportunity,’’ he said....
When does the EUSraeli empire ever renounce violence? Or even renounce the threat?
The Taliban have indicated they are willing to open peace talks with the United States and the Afghanistan government and opened an office in Qatar a little more than a week ago for possible negotiations.
But at the same time they have not renounced violence and attacks have continued across Afghanistan.
Their ability to carry out well-planned and bold operations was driven home Tuesday when a sport utility vehicle carrying four Taliban fighters managed to make it into a highly secured area by the gates of the palace. The four Taliban gunmen battled Afghan security forces for about an hour before being killed; a second vehicle involved in the attack blew up at a checkpoint on the way into the area.
That just reeks of the hallmarks of a false flag attack.
The brazen attack on the center of Karzai’s government raised concerns that the Afghan leader, who has a reputation for political posturing, might demand difficult concessions for talks. The peace process has already been delayed over a dispute over the flag and sign outside the Qatar office.
Any lame ass excuse to stop peace talk will do.
Karzai told reporters at a joint press conference with Cameron that moving ahead with talks was the only way to end nearly 12 years of war....
Karzai downplayed the significance of the Taliban attack at the heart of the Afghan government....
--more--"
"Bombs kill six Afghan children" Associated Press, July 05, 2013
KABUL — Roadside bombs killed four young girls and two schoolboys in Afghanistan on Thursday while a police inspector was gunned down on her way to work, officials said.
The girls, aged 10 to 12, had been sent by their families to a river to fetch some water for a wedding that was being held in a home on the outskirts of the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah, said a government spokesman, Ummar Zawaq. The bomb went off alongside a footpath through a field the girls had taken to return home, Zawaq said.
Also in Lashkar Gah on Thursday morning, two gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire on a police inspector who was being taken to work by her son-in-law on his motorcycle, Zawaq said. Inspector Islam Bibi died at a hospital, he said. Her son-in-law was wounded.
And in the eastern province of Paktika, two schoolboys were killed walking home from classes when they triggered a roadside bomb, the governor’s office said.
Meanwhile, the NATO-led coalition said one of its service members was killed in fighting Thursday in western Afghanistan. It gave no further details.
Also Thursday, 11 Taliban militants were killed in two operations in the province of Lowgar, south of Kabul, the Ministry of Defense said. One Afghan soldier was killed.
Violence in Afghanistan this year has matched its worst levels in nearly 12 years of war. According to figures from the Interior Ministry, 180 civilians were killed last month.
All while they are talking peace.
--more--"
Related:
"The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, the latest in a series of assaults aimed at the capital."
"Insurgents killed nearly 300 Afghan local and national police in the span of a month, the Interior Ministry said Monday, illustrating how casualties among local forces are mounting now that NATO-led coalition troops have handed over responsibility for combat operations."
And that is allegedly a good sign.
UPDATES:
"When the Taliban opened their political office in Qatar last week, stepping into the halogen glare of TV cameras, it was the first time in a dozen years that the world had gotten to see members of the insurgents’ inner circle — and they seemed different. Urbane and educated, they conducted interviews in English, Arabic, French, and German with easy fluency, passed out and received phone numbers and, most strikingly, talked about peace. Back in Afghanistan, though, it has been the same old Taliban....
--nomore--"
"Karzai’s opponents begin own talks with militant groups" by Kathy Gannon | Associated Press, March 19, 2013
KABUL — Afghan opposition parties, taking advantage of the government’s lack of progress in making peace with the Taliban, have opened their own channel to militant groups in hopes of putting their imprint on a deal to end 11 years of war and position themselves for next year’s elections.
Taliban and opposition leaders confirmed that the parties opposed to President Hamid Karzai have been talking since the beginning of the year to the Taliban as well as the militant group headed by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a US-declared terrorist....
Related:
There are fears that the withdrawal of international combat troops plus a new leader in the palace could usher in a new era of instability in Afghanistan....
Two senior Taliban officials indicated that the group is willing to pursue talks to move the political track forward. One sign of this was that they said they were contemplating replacing their top negotiator because he isn’t getting the desired results.
The Taliban want to talk with the United States, but they broke off formal discussions with the Americans last year. The Taliban have steadfastly rejected negotiations with the Karzai government, which they view as a puppet of foreign powers.
Taliban interlocutors have had back-channel discussions with representatives from various countries. A senior US official said the Taliban are talking to representatives of more than 30 countries and indirectly with the United States.
Still, a lack of transparency surrounding the discussions through various channels makes it difficult to know exactly who’s talking with whom.
Karzai, who misses no chance to champion his nation’s sovereignty over foreign powers, demands that any talks be led by his government. Early last year, he said that his administration, the United States, and the Taliban had held three-way talks aimed at moving toward a political settlement of the war.
The United States and the Taliban, however, deny that such talks took place.
Hekmatyar’s Islamist militant group, meanwhile, has held talks with the Karzai government and the United States.
As the opposition pursues peace with the Taliban, Karzai has launched a new round of verbal attacks on his supposed ally, the United States, which have infuriated some in Washington and confused some of his senior advisers.
--more--"
Now you know why.
