peacefare.net

Is anyone really talking with the Taliban?

It is always difficult to get a fix on negotiations that necessarily occur behind the scenes, even if “secret” is a category that rarely holds tight these days.  Talks, or non-talks, or talks about talks, held while fighting is still going on are particularly hard to fathom.

Afghanistan Analysts Network offers a blog blow by blow of recent action:   http://aan-afghanistan.com/index.asp?id=1286

Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit takes a hard look at Kabul’s latest program and finds it lacking:  Peace At All Costs?  Reintegration and Reconciliation in Afghanistan, see http://www.areu.org.af/

Crisis States Research Centre offers a UN-eyed perspective, but one that fails to cover events past 2008, even though it was published recently:   http://www.crisisstates.com/download/wp/wpSeries2/WP66.2.pdf

Best on the meaning of “reconciliation” in the Afghanistan context is still Michael Semple’s Reconciliation in Afghanistan:   http://bookstore.usip.org/books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=215572

The key question to ask about all of this is not the journalistic “who what where when why?”  More important is what the Americans might be offering as incentives for reconciliation.  Control over territory?  Positions in the Kabul government, or governors’ positions in the provinces?  A license to trade poppy?  Promises on withdrawal?

Taliban v. Al Qaeda II

Scott Atran may think even the Haqqani network can be turned against al Qaeda, but Jeffrey Kressler over at the Institute for the Study of War does not (http://www.understandingwar.org/otherwork/afghan-insurgent-group-will-not-negotiate-atlantic).  His in-depth piece on the Haqqani network is worth a gander:

Haqqani_Network_Compressed.pdf (application/pdf Object).

Ali Jalali at SAIS

The Central Asia-Caucasus Institute at SAIS, Johns Hopkins University invites you to a Forum:

“What Are America’s Real Commitments in Afghanistan?”

Featuring

Minister Ali A. Jalali, Distinguished Professor, Near East and South Asia Center for Strategic Studies (NESA), National Defense University, Washington, DC; Interior Minister of Afghanistan (Jan. 2003-Sept. 2005)

Wednesday, October 27, 5-7 p.m.

Rome Auditorium, 1^st Fl., Rome Building

SAIS, Johns Hopkins University

1619 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W.

Washington, DC 20036
While U.S. politicians debate America’s CHOICES in Afghanistan, it is worth asking what COMMITMENTS, if any, has the U.S. entered into? Part of the answer lies with the “Afghan Compact”, a five-year agreement between international partners and Afghanistan launched by the Government of Afghanistan at the London Conference, Jan 31-Feb 1, 2006. The compact formalized commitments to Afghanistan and stipulated its key areas of activity. The U.S. reconfirmed its commitment to the compact in November, 2009.  Additionally, a shared, international commitment to Afghanistan was declared   at the Paris Conference in 2008.

Speaker at this Forum, Minister Ali Jalali, former Minister of Internal Affairs of Afghanistan, has written extensively on Afghan military affairs and on civil development. Earlier he served as colonel in the Afghan Army and was a top military planner with Afghan Resistance after the 1979 Soviet invasion.

To register, please send an email with your name and affiliation to SAISCACIForums@jhu.edu, latest by 10 a.m. on the morning of the event. Space at this event may be limited and registration is mandatory. The Forum opens with a reception and refreshments at 5 p.m. The program will begin promptly at 5:30 p.m. and conclude at 7 p.m.    With inquiries please call 202-663-7723.

Taliban v. Al Qaeda?

Scott Atran thinks so, but only if we stop killing them and accept “separation of men and women in the public sphere” as the foundation of Pashtun tribal life.

via How to Turn the Taliban Against Al Qaeda – NYTimes.com.