KABUL, May 13: A senior Afghan peace negotiator and close ally of President Hamid Karzai was shot dead on Sunday, dealing a major blow to Kabul’s efforts to broker peace with Taliban militants.
Arsala Rahmani, a former minister in the Taliban regime, was a “key negotiator” in the High Peace Council (HPC) established by Mr Karzai to hold talks with the militants.
“Shortly after leaving home he was hit by a single bullet from a passing car” as he was driving to work in Kabul, Mr Rahmani’sgrandson Mohammad Waris said.
The Taliban, who have waged a decade-long armed campaign aimed at toppling President Karzai’s government, threatened earlier this month to target members of the HPC as part of their “spring offensive”.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed, however, denied involvement in Sunday’s killing. The militants are known to deny high-profile assassinations and attacks with many civilian casualties.
Nato’s International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) condemned the assassination.
“(Mr) Rahmani, a former Taliban member, chose to make a positive contribution to his nation by turning his back on an insurgent movement that continues to be wholly detrimental to the future of Afghanistan,” Isaf said.
“His decision to help make the future brighter for Afghans serves as an inspiration to us all and his contributions will be missed,”The HPC was established by Mr Karzai in 2010 to negotiate peace with the Taliban and other militants waging war against his administration and some 130,000 US-led Nato troops. Mr Rahmani “had recently established contacts with senior Taliban leaders”, a senior security official said.
The Taliban have publicly rejected Mr Karzai’s calls for peace, calling him a puppet of the Americans and insisting on the complete withdrawal of western troops.
The Islamist militants in March pulled out of preliminary talks with US officials in the Gulf state of Qatar, saying Washington had not fulfilled agreed confidence-building pledges, among them releasing five Taliban leaders held at the US military prison in Guantanamo Bay.
For its part, Washington has consistently said any talks with the Taliban to end the war could only take place with the agreement of the Afghan government, which eventually should lead the process.
Mr Rahmani, who was the Taliban’s higher education minister during their rule from 1996 to 2001, joined Mr Karzai’s government after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan.
He was one of several former Taliban leaders who were removed from a UN sanctions list last July after lobbying by Mr Karzai’s administration in a bid to help the peace process.
Mr Rahmani was known to have maintained ties with some Taliban leaders after joining Mr Karzai’s government. Before joining the HPC, the former Taliban leader was a member of the senate, appointed by President Karzai. His death is the second major blow to Karzai’s US-backed peace efforts in less than a year. The former head of the council, ex-president Burhanuddin Rabbani, was killed last September by a suicide bomber posing as a Taliban peace envoy.
Mr Karzai last month appointed Mr Rabbani’s son, the US-educated Salahuddin Rabbani to replace his father.—AFP