Straw agreed not to abandon talks with Taliban: Fazl

Daily Times Monitor

LAHORE: In the search for a single unifying force in chaotic Afghanistan, such as “moderate” Taliban, to bring political stability before November’s US presidential elections, focus has once again fallen on Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who during the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, was used to build bridges with the rest of the world, Asia Times reported on Friday.

Mr Rehman met visiting British Foreign Minister Jack Straw earlier in March and later paid a little-publicised and unscheduled visit to England, Asia Times added.

“The significance of these events emerged in comments Mr Rehman made to a local journalist. ‘The British authorities are working on behalf of the US. This indirect process has been chosen to avoid any ill effects ahead of the forthcoming presidential elections in America. Britain is holding indirect talks with the Taliban militia to seek an honourable American exit from Afghanistan,’” it reported.

“By implication, Mr Rehman will mediate in this process,” it added. Mr Rehman reportedly told Asia Times that after the Taliban fell in late 2001 and a UN resolution called them terrorists, “we conveyed the message to all Western powers that this was not the solution to the country’s problems, and will result in instability in Afghanistan. Now the Taliban are underground. The whole country is in deep chaos and without leadership. This is the threat we always pointed to in the past. Whenever there was a chance to interact with any Western country officials, we conveyed the same message (engage the Taliban)”.

Asia Times asked him if he thought his message got across, Mr Rehman said, “Yes. There is a visible change in behaviour. They know that elections are the real pulse, which reflects public opinion and if the masses cease to participate in the process of elections, whether because they do not believe in the present election process or because of any other reason - like law and order - what credibility will the US leave behind? Mr Straw came to Pakistan this year and I spoke to him about the same thing, saying, ‘Please, do not abandon the Taliban as they are the real binding force in Afghanistan,’ and Mr Straw agreed with me that the dialogue process should not be closed with any party in Afghanistan.”

He also told Asia Times that he had the chance to interact with Mike O’Brien, British minister for trade and investment. “At the same time, he was invited to different institutions that work under the British Foreign Office, he said, adding that he clearly told them all to remove their hang-ups concerning the Taliban,” it reported. “Mr Rehman is in many ways the perfect choice to act as a mediator with the Taliban,” Asia Times stated.

The Taliban leadership was mostly educated in religious seminaries of the NWFP or Balochistan on the border with Afghanistan, incidentally the two provinces from which the MMA now draws most of its support, Asia Times said, adding that many Taliban were students of Mr Rehman’s Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, the main political face of the Deoband school of Islamic thought in Pakistan.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_19-6-2004_pg1_2