November 10, 2007	Saturday	Shawwal 28, 1428

KABUL: After nearly two years of increased bloodshed, Afghan President Hamid Karzai is reaching out to Taliban militants who have been waging battle against his government, in a renewed push for a political settlement to a conflict that increasingly seems unwinnable militarily, analysts and diplomats say.

Speaking of the need for national ‘reconciliation’, Karzai has invited insurgents to lay down their arms and talk, and even join his administration. His overtures have met with varied responses, from contempt to cautious consideration, from different elements within the Taliban, the radical Islamic movement that US-led forces ousted from power in 2001.

But observers say those differences can be exploited, and that the signs of flexibility , however tentative or fleeting, are encouraging.

“There’s more space than there’s ever been for a solution to this other than endless conflict,” said Adrian Edwards, a United Nations spokesman in Kabul.

The push for dialogue comes after a summer of deadly militant attacks. On Tuesday, the country was hit by its most devastating suicide bombing yet, an attack that killed as many as 68 people, including more than a dozen children and six lawmakers. The Taliban has denied responsibility.

Such incidents have deepened public unease and anger with Karzai’s government, which many Afghans blame for the lack of improvement in their lives and the deterioration in public security.

An estimated 5,700 people, a large number of them civilians, have been killed this year in clashes between insurgents and allied troops working in conjunction with Afghanistan’s fledgling security forces.

Taliban attacks and kidnappings have spread beyond the group’s traditional stronghold in the south and east to northern provinces around Kabul and the capital itself, leaving residents fearful.

Amid a marked rise in suicide and roadside bombings, 205 coalition soldiers, half of them Americans, have died in Afghanistan this year, according to icasualties.org. The combined coalition toll for all of 2006 was 198.

As winter approaches, battle fatigue may be setting in for the Afghan government, and possibly the Taliban as well, prompting the search for some sort of political accommodation to curb the violence.

The question is what kind of deals can be struck and with whom.

The Taliban is not a monolithic organisation, making it impossible to reach an overarching agreement but possible to exploit factional divisions. Critics warn against any deals offering amnesty or political favours that, in effect, would reward extremists.

Many people here were alarmed when Karzai, just hours after a suicide bomber killed at least 30 people aboard an army bus in Kabul on Sept 29, appeared to offer to meet with two notorious anti-government figures, Taliban leader Mullah Omar and factional warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.

“If I find their address, there is no need for them to come to me. I’ll personally go there and get in touch with them,” Karzai said, adding, “If a group of Taliban or a number of Taliban come to me and say, ‘President, we want a department in this or in that ministry, or we want a position as deputy minister ... and we don’t want to fight anymore’, ... I will accept it because I want conflicts and fighting to end in Afghanistan.”

The president’s spokesman, Humayun Hamidzada, insisted that Karzai’s comments were taken out of context and that no offers to negotiate had been extended to Mullah Omar, Hekmatyar or any “hard-core elements’ of the Taliban with links to Al Qaeda.

“This offer is for others – people who are stuck in the middle,” Hamidzada said. Many of the Taliban’s rank and file are believed to be alienated Afghans who have joined the insurgency less out of Islamist fervour than anger with the government over lost homes, unremitting poverty and a feeling of disenfranchisement.

Hamidzada dismissed as a non starter the demand by some Taliban leaders that foreign troops must leave Afghanistan before any negotiations can take place. He underscored that any talks with militants would require them to give up their weapons and abide by the constitution.

“At this stage we are talking about the principle of talking,” Hamidzada said. “Everything will be within the framework of the constitution. We’re not going back on human rights; we’re not going back on women’s rights. We’re not returning to the days of the Taliban.”

In recent days, reports have surfaced of an impending deal with Mullah Abdul Salaam, a prominent Taliban and tribal leader in southern Afghanistan who commands hundreds of armed followers.

Britain’s Daily Telegraph newspaper said the deal would see Salaam and his fighters pledge support to the Afghan government and British troops stationed in the south. Hamidzada would not confirm the report but said: “Some figures are working on switching sides, and we are working closely to make it happen.”

What Karzai offers in return will be under close scrutiny. Human rights and other groups already have decried the involvement in government of former warlords and other leaders accused of wartime atrocities, and the lack of progress in holding such men to account.

“All along, reconciliation in Afghanistan has been taken to mean pure amnesty,” said Joanna Nathan, an analyst with the International Crisis Group. “What a political solution has got to mean, rather than rewarding violent extremists at the top, is actually community-level reconciliation, reaching out to the disillusioned and disenchanted before they join such movements.”

The government’s calculations are influenced by heavy domestic pressures. In a recent nationwide poll by the non-profit Asia Foundation, Afghans ranked public security as the country’s No. 1 problem, leapfrogging over unemployment, which topped the survey last year.

“When I leave the house, I pray to God that it won’t happen to me,” said Mohammed Ibrahim, 21, who runs a clothing stall in one of Kabul’s busiest markets. “Those aren’t the actions of human beings.”

Hamidzada, Karzai’s spokesman, said there was credible intelligence of a “serious debate” and “considerable friction” among Taliban members over engaging with the Afghan government politically. He said that Karzai’s doors were open as part of the president’s search for a “comprehensive solution”.

“Any war ends in negotiation,” Hamidzada said, “even if it’s surrender.” —Dawn-LAT-WP (c) Los Angeles Times