[h=3]By NATHAN HODGE And EHSANULLAH AMIRI[/h] KABUL—The Taliban said they were opening an office in Qatar, paving the way for peace talks with envoys of Afghan President Hamid Karzai and with the U.S., an important step toward ending a conflict that has dragged on for over a decade.
The Afghan Taliban said they are opening an office in the Gulf emirate of Qatar to facilitate peace talks with the Afghan and U.S. Governments. Nathan Hodge reports. Photo: AP.
The U.S. will have its first formal meeting with the Taliban within days—the first such contact since the group broke off preliminary talks with the U.S. last year—followed by a meeting between the Taliban and the High Peace Council, the body set up by Mr. Karzai to help reach out to the insurgency, a senior U.S. administration official said.
"The core of this process is not going to be the U.S.-Taliban talks—those 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's going to be a long, hard process if indeed it advances significantly at all."
In a statement issued Tuesday, the Taliban said they were opening a "political office of the Islamic Emirate," the group's name for their administration, in the Persian Gulf emirate.
The Taliban last year began to establish a political office staffed with authorized representatives of Taliban leader Mullah Omar in Qatar, using that diplomatic channel for meetings with U.S. and other Western officials. Until now, however, the Taliban have refused to negotiate with Mr. Karzai's High Peace Council.
Mr. Karzai, too, has looked on the Taliban establishing a Qatar office with suspicion, and on Tuesday he repeated a demand that peace talks be moved to Afghanistan. "We don't have any immediate preconditions for talks between the Afghan peace council and the Taliban, but we have principles laid down," he said. "The principles are that the talks, having begun in Qatar, must immediately be moved to Afghanistan."
Mohammed Massoom Stanekzai, a senior adviser to Mr. Karzai, said the High Peace Council "will be responsible for leading the Afghan team."
The move comes amid a crucial transition for Afghanistan: Earlier on Tuesday, a high-profile ceremony in Kabul marked the formal handover of security responsibilities from the U.S.-led coalition to Afghan forces. The day was marred by a deadly bombing in the city, the latest reminder that the insurgency remains even as American troops prepare to go home.
During the ceremony at Afghanistan's National Defense University, Mr. Karzai described Tuesday's final round of the handover of security duties as an "historic event" for Afghanistan after over a decade of international military involvement.
[h=3]Earlier[/h]
Afghan National Army troops train in Afghanistan. An announcement that the ANA has taken the lead in Afghanistan's security operations is expected soon. Video by WSJ's Nathan Hodge via #WorldStream.
"For the people of Afghanistan, this is…a great day," he said after the ceremony, which was attended by top-level Afghan officials and the secretary-general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. "The Afghan people see their own children, their own young ones, providing protection of their lives and their country."
The security transition signals an important shift. The U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force is slated to end its mission by the end of 2014, and coalition forces are in the process of closing bases and shipping out equipment.
"As your [forces step forward across the country, the main effort of our forces is shifting from combat to support," said NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen. "We will continue to help Afghan troops in operations if needed. But we will no longer plan, execute or lead those operations."
Afghanistan had little resembling a cohesive national army after the U.S.-led invasion and the collapse of the Taliban regime in late 2001. Today, the country has a 350,000-strong military and police force. But Afghan officials and their coalition backers acknowledge that the Afghan troops, who are sustaining mounting casualties as American forces pull back, will remain heavily dependent on international support for the foreseeable future.
International donors have pledged to keep bankrolling the Afghan military and police after next year's withdrawal. Discussions are under way between Washington and Kabul about maintaining a small, residual U.S. force to conduct counterterrorism missions and oversee training of Afghanistan's fledgling security forces post-2014. Other nations have said they are willing to commit troops for a post-2014 training mission.
The Afghan forces have won praise in recent weeks for responding quickly and effectively to high-profile attacks by Taliban insurgents. But a deadly bomb blast that rocked western Kabul just as Tuesday's handover ceremony was getting under way—the third insurgent attack in the Afghan capital in 10 days—underscored the Taliban's persistent threat.
The target of Tuesday's bombing was powerful parliament member Mohammed Mohaqiq, a former ethnic Hazara warlord who was a leading member of the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance. While Mr. Mohaqiq was unharmed, three civilians were killed and several people, including six of his bodyguards, were injured in the attack near the office of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, police said.
"Due to security threats, I was not usually going to parliament, and I have been told to take care of myself," Mr. Mohaqiq said after the attack.
On Tuesday, as he decided to travel to a parliament session, "there a big boom and I did not understand, and then I saw lots of dust and smoke," Mr. Mohaqiq said. "My car was destroyed and its door blown off, but I am fine. The enemies of Afghanistan keep doing such things all the time, and I don't take it seriously."
Gen. Mohammed Zahir, head of the criminal investigative division of the Kabul police, said Tuesday's explosion was caused by a roadside bomb, a relatively rare type of attack inside the capital. Most of the recent Taliban operations in Kabul were carried out by suicide bombers.
The blast blew out windows of nearby markets, buildings and houses. Blood and shattered glass from the damaged vehicle was still on the pavement at midmorning.
Write to Nathan Hodge at [email protected]
The Afghan Taliban said they are opening an office in the Gulf emirate of Qatar to facilitate peace talks with the Afghan and U.S. Governments. Nathan Hodge reports. Photo: AP.
The U.S. will have its first formal meeting with the Taliban within days—the first such contact since the group broke off preliminary talks with the U.S. last year—followed by a meeting between the Taliban and the High Peace Council, the body set up by Mr. Karzai to help reach out to the insurgency, a senior U.S. administration official said.
"The core of this process is not going to be the U.S.-Taliban talks—those 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's going to be a long, hard process if indeed it advances significantly at all."
In a statement issued Tuesday, the Taliban said they were opening a "political office of the Islamic Emirate," the group's name for their administration, in the Persian Gulf emirate.
The Taliban last year began to establish a political office staffed with authorized representatives of Taliban leader Mullah Omar in Qatar, using that diplomatic channel for meetings with U.S. and other Western officials. Until now, however, the Taliban have refused to negotiate with Mr. Karzai's High Peace Council.
Mr. Karzai, too, has looked on the Taliban establishing a Qatar office with suspicion, and on Tuesday he repeated a demand that peace talks be moved to Afghanistan. "We don't have any immediate preconditions for talks between the Afghan peace council and the Taliban, but we have principles laid down," he said. "The principles are that the talks, having begun in Qatar, must immediately be moved to Afghanistan."
Mohammed Massoom Stanekzai, a senior adviser to Mr. Karzai, said the High Peace Council "will be responsible for leading the Afghan team."
The move comes amid a crucial transition for Afghanistan: Earlier on Tuesday, a high-profile ceremony in Kabul marked the formal handover of security responsibilities from the U.S.-led coalition to Afghan forces. The day was marred by a deadly bombing in the city, the latest reminder that the insurgency remains even as American troops prepare to go home.
During the ceremony at Afghanistan's National Defense University, Mr. Karzai described Tuesday's final round of the handover of security duties as an "historic event" for Afghanistan after over a decade of international military involvement.
[h=3]Earlier[/h]
Afghan National Army troops train in Afghanistan. An announcement that the ANA has taken the lead in Afghanistan's security operations is expected soon. Video by WSJ's Nathan Hodge via #WorldStream.
"For the people of Afghanistan, this is…a great day," he said after the ceremony, which was attended by top-level Afghan officials and the secretary-general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. "The Afghan people see their own children, their own young ones, providing protection of their lives and their country."
The security transition signals an important shift. The U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force is slated to end its mission by the end of 2014, and coalition forces are in the process of closing bases and shipping out equipment.
"As your [forces step forward across the country, the main effort of our forces is shifting from combat to support," said NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen. "We will continue to help Afghan troops in operations if needed. But we will no longer plan, execute or lead those operations."
Afghanistan had little resembling a cohesive national army after the U.S.-led invasion and the collapse of the Taliban regime in late 2001. Today, the country has a 350,000-strong military and police force. But Afghan officials and their coalition backers acknowledge that the Afghan troops, who are sustaining mounting casualties as American forces pull back, will remain heavily dependent on international support for the foreseeable future.
International donors have pledged to keep bankrolling the Afghan military and police after next year's withdrawal. Discussions are under way between Washington and Kabul about maintaining a small, residual U.S. force to conduct counterterrorism missions and oversee training of Afghanistan's fledgling security forces post-2014. Other nations have said they are willing to commit troops for a post-2014 training mission.
The Afghan forces have won praise in recent weeks for responding quickly and effectively to high-profile attacks by Taliban insurgents. But a deadly bomb blast that rocked western Kabul just as Tuesday's handover ceremony was getting under way—the third insurgent attack in the Afghan capital in 10 days—underscored the Taliban's persistent threat.
The target of Tuesday's bombing was powerful parliament member Mohammed Mohaqiq, a former ethnic Hazara warlord who was a leading member of the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance. While Mr. Mohaqiq was unharmed, three civilians were killed and several people, including six of his bodyguards, were injured in the attack near the office of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, police said.
"Due to security threats, I was not usually going to parliament, and I have been told to take care of myself," Mr. Mohaqiq said after the attack.
On Tuesday, as he decided to travel to a parliament session, "there a big boom and I did not understand, and then I saw lots of dust and smoke," Mr. Mohaqiq said. "My car was destroyed and its door blown off, but I am fine. The enemies of Afghanistan keep doing such things all the time, and I don't take it seriously."
Gen. Mohammed Zahir, head of the criminal investigative division of the Kabul police, said Tuesday's explosion was caused by a roadside bomb, a relatively rare type of attack inside the capital. Most of the recent Taliban operations in Kabul were carried out by suicide bombers.
The blast blew out windows of nearby markets, buildings and houses. Blood and shattered glass from the damaged vehicle was still on the pavement at midmorning.
Write to Nathan Hodge at [email protected]