"It's
now the moment for the Pakistani leadership to extricate itself from this misguided
American war and commence a holistic policy of dialogue and accommodation
backed by military power."
Gulbadin Hekmatyar: The Afghan warlord is one of those pushing, with some success, for a dialogue with the Taliban and other militants and a complete withdrawal of foreign forces.
Afghan warlord and Hezb-e-Islami leader Gulbadin Hekmatyar,
who is fighting coalition and Afghan government forces alongside the Taliban
and Haqqani networks,
has said that there can be no peace in Afghanistan until NATO and U.S. forces
leave. This view is increasingly shared by many saner elements in the region,
and is one reason President Karzai is desperately seeking a dialogue with Taliban
and others and has already been in touch with Hekmatyar’s people. For his part,
Hekmatyar - once feted along with other Mujahideen leaders in Washington and
escorted through America's corridors of power by none other than Zalmay
Khalilzad [former U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Afghanistan and the U.N.], has offered
his own road map to peace. It begins with the withdrawal of foreign forces from
Afghanistan within a year, to be followed by free and independently-organized
general elections. According to Hekmatyar, the need is to bring the fighting to
an end to avoid the mistakes that were made when the Russians left. As a
commander of the anti-Soviet resistance, Hekmatyar has direct experience of
that period.
Posted
by WORLDMEETS.US
Unfortunately, the U.S.
continues confused and directionless in its Afghan policy, so it persists with a
military-centric approach that is destined to fail. As for Pakistan, it is
unable to separate itself from this disastrous American policy and is becoming
increasingly embroiled in a policy that is similarly disastrous in the Federally
Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). Even NATO members like Britain now realize
a need to pursue dialogue to end the Afghan War, and its disagreements with the
United States are becoming ever-more apparent. It is high time that Pakistan
opts for dialogue with its tribal population in FATA so as to isolate foreign
militants and their protégés.
Meanwhile, the Taliban now
declare categorically that not only is Mullah Omar in Afghanistan, but he's
leading from the front. Yet sitting in Paris, French Foreign Minister Kouchner
declared that, not only is Mullah Omar in Pakistan, but that “everyone” knows it.
According to him, Mullah Omar is either in Karachi or Quetta! This is an
irresponsible statement since, as before, no proof has ever been provided, which
leads directly to the conclusion that this is merely a ploy to target Pakistan.
It is time that Pakistan took
a firm stand on such wild accusations given that without its support, NATO and
the U.S. would be completely stranded in Afghanistan. It's now the moment for
the Pakistani leadership to extricate itself from this misguided American war
and commence a holistic policy of dialogue and accommodation backed by military
power.
