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Taliban to Start Talks With U.S. and Afghan Government Taliban Step Toward Afghan Peace Talks Is Hailed by U.S.
(about 1 hour later)
KABUL, Afghanistan — The Taliban announced on Tuesday that they were prepared to take the first step toward peace negotiations with the Afghan government after 12 years of war, and American officials said they would meet with Taliban representatives in Qatar within the week to start the process. WASHINGTON — A potential breakthrough in the effort to open Afghan peace negotiations appeared imminent on Tuesday when the Taliban announced the opening of a political office in Qatar and said they were willing to talk. American and Afghan officials said they would travel to the Persian Gulf emirate to meet insurgent negotiators within days.
If talks begin, it will be the first time that the antagonists in the Afghanistan war have undertaken negotiations to end the conflict, begun in 2001 when American forces entered the country to rout Al Qaeda. Efforts to get such talks started have long been stalled, hijacked by conflicting demands from the main parties with long-term goals in Afghanistan: the Afghan government of President Hamid Karzai, the exiled Taliban leadership, the United States and Pakistan. If the talks begin, they would be a huge step in peace efforts that have been locked in an impasse for more than 18 months. American officials have long pushed for such talks, believing them crucial to stabilizing Afghanistan after the 2014 Western military withdrawal. But the process has been marked by false starts and seemingly unnavigable obstacles, including questions about who was actually empowered to speak for the Taliban’s secretive leader, Mullah Muhammad Omar.
In a televised speech announcing the opening of a Taliban political office in Doha, the capital of Qatar, Mohammed Naim, a Taliban spokesman, said that their political and military goals “are limited to Afghanistan” and that they did not wish to “harm other countries.” President Obama called the Taliban’s announcement “an important first step toward reconciliation,” but cautioned that it was only “a very early step.”
Senior Obama administration officials in Washington said the Taliban statement contained two crucial pledges: that the insurgents believed that Afghan soil should not be used to threaten other countries — an indirect reference to Al Qaeda’s sheltering in Afghanistan with the Taliban regime’s blessing before the Sept. 11 attacks — and that they were committed to finding a peaceful solution to the war. “We anticipate there will be a lot of bumps in the road," Mr. Obama said at a meeting with President François Hollande of France at the Group of 8 summit meeting in Northern Ireland.
“Together, they fulfill the requirement for the Taliban to open a political office in Doha for the purposes of negotiation with the Afghan government,” a senior administration official said. There has already been one bump: The plan that appeared to coming to fruition on Tuesday was the same proposal that the Taliban refused to move on more than a year ago, accusing the United States of negotiating in bad faith.
American officials had long insisted that the Taliban make both pledges before talks start. The first element, in particular, is vital — it represents the beginning of what is hoped will be the Taliban’s eventual public break with Al Qaeda, the officials said. The ultimate goal of such talks, from a Western and Afghan government point of view, is to persuade the Taliban to disarm and accept the Afghan Constitution. But officials warned that many hurdles remained in what was sure to be a long process. The insurgents did not say what prompted their apparent reversal. But talks in Qatar would be the first formal negotiations to end the war in Afghanistan, which began when American forces entered the country to rout Al Qaeda in 2001.
President Obama called the Taliban’s announcement “an important first step toward reconciliation.” The war has since broadened into wide-ranging campaign against the Taliban and its allies. Yet even top American generals maintained that it could not be won on the battlefield, and American diplomats have engaged in nearly three years of secret meetings and working through diplomatic back channels to lay the groundwork for talks to begin.
But “it is a very early step,” Mr. Obama said at a meeting with President François Hollande of France at a Group of 8 summit meeting in Northern Ireland. “We anticipate there will be a lot of bumps in the road.” Tuesday’s announcement appeared to signal that the Taliban had overcome resistance encountered at one time or another from nearly every quarter: President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, the exiled Taliban leadership, the Taliban’s patrons in Pakistan, and critics in the United States who have reacted coolly to what they perceive as talking to terrorists.
After American envoys meet later this week with Taliban representatives in Qatar, members of Afghanistan’s High Peace Council, which is to represent the government in talks, will sit down with the insurgents. A pair of Afghan mullahs in black turbans made the Taliban announcement in a televised address broadcast from Doha, the capital of Qatar. The Taliban’s political and military goals “are limited to Afghanistan,” said Muhammad Naim, the Taliban spokesman who read the statement.
But the first meetings will probably feature little more than an exchange of agendas, another senior administration official said, cautioning against expectations for the talks to yield substantive results any time soon. Indeed, one major obstacle for the peace process has been the outright refusal of Taliban negotiators to talk directly with Mr. Karzai’s administration. The Taliban “would not allow anyone to threaten the security of other countries from the soil of Afghanistan,” Mr. Naim added, and seeks “a political and peaceful solution” to the conflict.
American officials had long insisted that the Taliban make both pledges before talks start. The first element, in particular, is vital — it represents the beginning of what is hoped will become a public break with Al Qaeda, which the Taliban sheltered before the Sept. 11 attacks, the officials said.
“Together, they fulfill the requirement for the Taliban to open a political office in Doha for the purposes of negotiation with the Afghan government,” a senior Obama administration official said.
Along with getting the Taliban to disown international terrorist groups, the ultimate goal of the talks, from a Western and Afghan government point of view, is to persuade the Taliban to disarm and accept the Afghan Constitution. While Western officials have in the past suggested that the Constitution can be changed, the Obama administration on Tuesday stressed that accepting the current charter’s “protections for women and minorities” was considered a condition of any eventual peace deal.
In the shorter term, American officials said that American envoys are to meet later this week with Taliban representatives in Qatar, and then members of Afghanistan’s High Peace Council, which is to represent the government in talks, are to travel to the Persian Gulf emirate to sit down with the insurgents.
But the first meetings will probably feature little more than an exchange of agendas, another senior administration official said, cautioning against expectations for the talks to yield substantive results any time soon.
“There is no guarantee that this will happen quickly, if at all,” the official said.“There is no guarantee that this will happen quickly, if at all,” the official said.
President Karzai referred to the impending opening of the Taliban office earlier in comments at a ceremony celebrating the transfer of all security responsibilities to Afghan forces from the American-led multinational forces in Afghanistan. Talks between the United States and the Taliban “can help advance the process, but the core of it is going to be negotiations among Afghans and the level of trust on both sides is extremely low, as one would expect,” the official said. “So it is going to be a long hard process if indeed it advances significantly at all.”
While he signaled his acceptance of the office’s opening, Mr. Karzai has repeatedly said that the talks must be Afghan-led, implying that neither the United States nor the Pakistanis should be interlocutors. And he wants the talks held in Afghanistan. President Karzai of referred to the impending opening of the Taliban office earlier in comments at a ceremony celebrating the transfer of all security responsibilities to Afghan forces from the American-led multinational forces in Afghanistan.
Both demands are difficult to meet. Realistically, both Pakistan and the United States have to be guarantors of any peace effort. Ultimately it is the United States that has bargaining chips — the Taliban prisoners whom it holds at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba — that might help bring the Taliban to the table. And Pakistan, as the home of most of the Taliban leadership and as the place where they have been able to receive funding and training for the fight, would have to play a role in encouraging the Taliban and backing their participation in a peace plan. “Peace is the desire of the people of Afghanistan,” Mr. Karzai said at a Kabul news conference after the ceremony. “Peace is a hope that the people of Afghanistan make sacrifices for every day.”
As for relocating the peace talks to Kabul, the Taliban are opposed to that because they believe that they would be at an immediate disadvantage on the turf of their opponents, the Afghan government. While he signaled his acceptance of the office’s opening, he made it clear that he wanted any talks moved to Afghanistan as soon as possible. The Taliban have insisted on holding talks on neutral ground outside Afghanistan and Pakistan, where much of the Taliban leadership currently lives.
“The president should not use the term ‘immediately’ or ‘as soon as possible’ in talking about moving the peace negotiations to Afghanistan,” said Sayed Agha Akbar, a onetime Taliban commander now living in Kabul. American officials said they, too, wanted to see the office the talks eventually moved to Afghanistan. But “it’s not going to be possible in the near future,” said one of the administration officials.
“Using such inflammatory words would be a serious blow to the peace talks at the moment when they are about to start.”
The Taliban statement on Monday said that in addition to initial negotiations, the Doha office would be used to explain the group’s views to other countries, and to meet with representatives of the United Nations and with regional, international and nongovernmental organizations. The Taliban also said they planned to give media statements about the current political situation.
Mr. Karzai’s concern is that the Taliban will use the office as a forum to try to re-establish their political legitimacy, especially in international circles, rather than confining the office to peace talks.Mr. Karzai’s concern is that the Taliban will use the office as a forum to try to re-establish their political legitimacy, especially in international circles, rather than confining the office to peace talks.
“Peace is the desire of the people of Afghanistan,” Mr. Karzai said at a Kabul news conference after the transfer ceremony. “Peace is a hope that the people of Afghanistan make sacrifices for every day.” His concerns did not appear unfounded. The Taliban, in its statement on Tuesday, offered an expansive view of the role to be played by the Qatar office. The office would allow the Taliban “to improve its relations with countries around the world through understanding and talks,” as well as help it establish contact with the United Nations and aid groups, and yo talk to the media.
Talks between the United States and the Taliban “can help advance the process, but the core of it is going to be negotiations among Afghans and the level of trust on both sides is extremely low, as one would expect,” the second senior Obama administration official said. “So it is going to be a long, hard process if indeed it advances significantly at all.” Meeting Afghans was qualified with the rejoinder “if needed.”

Alissa J. Rubin reported from Kabul, and Matthew Rosenberg from Washington. Jackie Calmes contributed reporting from Enniskillen, Northern Ireland.

The insurgents offered little clarity on why they were now willing to open the office and begin talks with the United States and the government of Mr. Karzai, who they have for years derided as an American puppet.

Matthew Rosenberg reported from Washington, and Alissa J. Rubin from Kabul, Afghanistan. Jackie Calmes contributed reporting from Enniskillen, Northern Ireland.