After Afghan Foreign Ministry officials claimed that peace talks with the Taliban are “on track,” the Taliban was quick to issue a statement to reiterate that no talks have ever taken place with the Karzai government, and that the stalled US talks have not restarted.
The statement went on to say that no new talks with the US would be held “until the Americans take constructive steps and fulfill promises which were agreed upon for confidence building.”
The initial talks looked like the first serious effort at negotiation, after several embarrassing failures, but collapsed in mid-March when, following the Kandahar Massacre, the Taliban said they could no longer justify talking with the “erratic” US.
The confidence building measures were transfers of certain detainees out of Guantanamo Bay, which were stalled when the Karzai government demanded that it be involved in the decision to release them. US Special Envoy Marc Grossman called for new talks last week, but also demanded the Taliban disarm and swear to obey the Karzai government’s constitution first.
How can we expect that the Taliban will come to the negotiating table when we ignore their concerns and pre-conditions? The detainees in Guantonomo, permanent US bases and troops in Afghanistan, the US to be (the) diplomatic voice of all the Afghans for the foreseeable future, and most of all, the continued killing of civilians via drones, marauding helicopter gunships and night raids are points of contention and not negotiable.
Maybe Marc Grossman should try obeying the U.S. constitution first!