ANALYSIS: Pakistan tasked with using Taliban pull for Afghan solution

By Sajjad Malik and Nadeem Sarwar Feb 2, 2010, 11:20 GMT

Islamabad - The United States and Afghanistan have given Pakistan a lead role in arranging peace talks between Taliban and the government in Kabul, sources in Pakistan's Foreign Ministry sai Tuesday.

A Pakistani diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the country had started to work out a list of militant groups to be approached for reconciliation and the proposed terms and conditions under which the talks should take place.

'We want that some sort of process should start as early as possible, and shape up into reality before the planned US withdrawal by the middle of next year,' the official told the German Press Agency dpa.

Pakistan plans to come up with a set of proposals and establish initial contacts with the Taliban and other militant groups like Hizb-e-Islami, headed by Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, before April when another international conference on Afghanistan is expected to take place in Kabul.

Pakistan is no stranger to the Taliban, which it nurtured from infancy until they took over as rulers of Kabul. The country is believed to have been covertly supporting the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan after their fall in October 2001.

The West long suspected the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan's leading spy agency, of playing a double game as a key US ally in the fight against extremists while patronizing the Taliban for a future game plan at the same time.

US officials have repeatedly accused Pakistan of sheltering Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar and his senior aides around Quetta, the capital of Pakistan's south-western Balochistan province that borders the Afghan province of Kandahar.

'Yes, we have considerable influence over Taliban and we will play our role in securing peace in Afghanistan,' the official said. 'We know Taliban participation is vital for peace in Afghanistan.'

According to the diplomat, who is closely associated with the process, initially Saudi Arabia was also requested along with Pakistan to play as 'go between' and arrange negotiations during the closed-door talks at last month's international conference in London.

But the oil-rich kingdom, which once bankrolled Taliban, has attached conditions of Taliban renouncing links with al-Qaeda prior to negotiations and an official invitation from the Afghan government for Riyadh's mediatory role.

As Afghan President Hamid Karzai is expected to convince Saudis of engagement in the peace process during his visit to Riyadh this week, Pakistan is now the only option for the US-led coalition and a reluctant Kabul, which has been on hostile terms with Islamabad for the alleged support for Taliban in recent years.

But there are formidable problems involved for Pakistan, as the US has made clear that it will not break bread with Mullah Omar and all other top Taliban leaders.

'We have been asked to concentrate on second-tier leadership and peel away a huge chunk of them, leaving the top guys vulnerable,' said the Pakistani diplomat.

The London conference has pledged an initial 140 million dollars for a new reconciliation fund aimed at enticing Taliban fighters to lay down their arms and return to civil society.

Playing games with the old Taliban leadership is difficult due to their experience and tenacity during long years of war. But Pakistan will give it a full try as it is given a chance to reverse increasing influence of its arch-rival India in Afghanistan.

'We feel sympathy for Omar but will not hesitate about bargaining a deal that ensures its long-term strategic interests in Afghanistan vis-a-vis India,' the official said.

The Taliban leadership has rejected recent overtures by the Afghan government and international community for a negotiated settlement to the war.

In a statement posted on its English-language website, The Voice of Jihad, in late January, the Taliban council called for 'the full withdrawal of the invading forces.'

Pakistan finds it convenient to sideline Mullah Omar and his hardcore lieutenants, who ignored Islamabad's pleas to spare the historic Bamiyan Buddha statues and to hand over al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden to the US before the terrorist attacks in the New York and Washington.

Pakistan hopes a possible new Taliban leadership, young militant leaders with flexible political approach, will be more pliant and sympathetic towards Islamabad.

'If Taliban come to terms with the realities on ground, and are ready for compromises, the US troop withdrawal is possible much earlier than anyone has expected,' the Pakistani official said.