Taliban ready for dialogue with Karzai if foreign troops leave - AJW by The Asahi Shimbun
KYOTO--A senior Taliban official, on a rare visit outside war-torn Afghanistan, disclosed here that the movement is prepared to work with the government in Kabul if foreign troops leave.
Equally rare was the interview granted by Shaikh Din Mohammad, a member of the Taliban's political office handling foreign affairs.
"We can have dialogue with him (President Hamid Karzai) as Afghans (on an equal footing) if foreign troops leave," Mohammad told The Asahi Shimbun on June 26. "As long as foreign troops remain, it is impossible to have any confidence, to have any dialogue, to have any negotiation with each party in the Karzai administration."
Mohammad, 48, held several key ministerial positions until the Taliban were ousted in 2001 after the U.S.-led forces invaded Afghanistan following the 9/11 attacks against the United States.
Mohammad was visiting Japan to attend an international conference on reconciliation and peace-building in Afghanistan held by Doshisha University's Graduate School of Global Studies on June 27.
It is unprecedented for a Taliban senior official to sit at an international conference abroad.
His presence appears to reflect an effort by the Taliban to raise its profile in the global community, according to Masanori Naito, a professor of Islamic studies at the university.
"The Taliban apparently wants to increase its presence ahead of the International Conference on Reconstruction Assistance to Afghanistan scheduled for July 8 in Tokyo," he said. "It may be also intending to move forward in talks with the United States toward a cease-fire."
The U.S. government was involved in behind-the-scenes contacts with the Taliban in Qatar to negotiate terms for cease-fire talks as part of efforts to transfer all security responsibilities to the Afghan government by the end of 2014.
However, the Taliban announced the suspension of those contacts in March.
Mohammad explained that the talks were suspended after the United States refused to accept the Taliban's conditions, including a prisoner swap.
He said the Taliban may reopen talks if the United States agreed to its conditions.
Mohammad also expressed opposition to the U.S. and Afghan government policy of maintaining a continued American troop presence beyond 2014 under the name of training the Afghan security forces and other support activities.
Regarding the Taliban's participation in a future Afghan government, Mohammad said, "We will join the economy, and join the politics for all the Afghan people. But if there is any American, a single one, we cannot join the government."
Asked about the rising death toll as a result of prolonged conflict, Mohammad said the Taliban will continue fighting.
"War is imposed upon us Afghans and we don't want any war," Mohammad said. "We are compelled to defend ourselves."
He also admitted that many civilians have been killed in suicide bombings, adding that war inevitably involves civilian casualties.
But Mohammad called for an investigation into the deaths of civilians by terrorism, saying the Taliban are not responsible for all the fatalities.
As for Mullah Omar, the overall commander of the Taliban who is being sought by the U.S. government for sheltering Osama bin Laden, Mohammad said, "He is in Afghanistan, safe."
Mohammad said he was dispatched to attend the conference in Kyoto as an official representative of the Taliban at Omar's express order and that the Taliban are ready to take part in any meetings and present its views.