Column on China peace role in Afghanistan published in The Express Tribune

Neighbourhood watch: China poised to emerge as ‘honest broker’ in Afghan peace process

By Tahir Khan

Published: January 30, 2015

Earlier, in October, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang proposed a five-point plan to resolve the Afghan peace process. PHOTO: AFP

ISLAMABAD: The Afghan Taliban confirmed that its representatives had visited China to expand relations and throw light on its policies. Officials from the group have also announced plans to visit other neighbouring countries and strengthen contacts with the international community.

Although they have denied seeking Beijing’s assistance in mediating peace talks with President Ashraf Ghani’s government, the visit earlier this week has put a spotlight on the Afghan Taliban’s political motives. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid has insisted the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan — the name of state under the Taliban rule ­— has always wanted to build stronger ties with its neighbours. More significantly, Taliban leaders have also voiced their intention to engage in talks with any country which is willing to resolve the deadlock with the Kabul administration.

Helping hand

However, Masum Stanekzai, a senior official of the government-sponsored Afghan High Peace Council, said China has embarked on fresh efforts to assist the peace process.

Since China has never been militarily involved in Afghanistan, it could play a more proactive role in encouraging the Taliban to mediate the peace process, provided its efforts are not hindered by major stakeholders.

Earlier, in October, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang proposed a five-point plan to resolve the Afghan peace process. This strategy includes promoting an inclusive process of political reconciliation.

Speaking at the Ministerial Conference of Istanbul Process on Afghanistan in Beijing, the Chinese premier urged all political parties in Afghanistan to set aside past grievances and join the political reconciliation process to discuss suitable means of achieving peace and development in their country.

President Ashraf Ghani and Adviser to Pakistan’s Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz threw their weight behind this strategy for peace and economic development in Afghanistan.

New initiative

The Afghan Taliban visited China around the same time Keqiang made these suggestions for peace and stability in Afghanistan.

The Afghan Taliban’s visit does not come entirely out of the blue. It is widely believed that China is seeking a series of assurances from the Taliban. Firstly, it is interested in ensuring the preservation of its economic projects and the safety of Chinese workers in the country. Secondly, China wants to persuade the Taliban to not host Uighur fighters in its territory.

In light of these considerations, Pakistani and Afghan analysts have deemed the Afghan Taliban’s visit to China as particularly significant.

Mushahid Hussain Sayed, a senator and chairman of Pakistan-China Institute, has billed the visit as welcome proof of China’s pivotal role in the peace process as Afghanistan’s neighbour.

Speaking to The Express Tribune on Friday, Mushahid said the visit is likely to open the portals for the country to play the role of an “honest broker” in Afghanistan.

“Unlike its other neighbours, China has no historical baggage against Afghanistan,” he said. “The visit was an opportunity for China to seek assurances from the Afghan Taliban that they will not export radical Islam to Xinjiang or destabilise China’s strategic northwest.”

Mushahid, who is also the Chairman of the Senate Standing Committee on Defence, says the Taliban visit demonstrates China’s proactive diplomatic policies in Afghanistan. “Its policies seek to prevent a vacuum in the wake of the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan and promote peace in the country,” he added.

Afghan analyst Nazar Mutmaeen, who regularly writes on the Taliban and political affairs, strongly believes Taliban representatives have assured China of its commitment to not host Uighur fighters or harm their economic interests and workers in the country.

“I think they have also sought Chinese cooperation against international restrictions on the Taliban in return for backing their political efforts,” Mutmaeen told The Express Tribune.

Questions and answers

The Afghan media is divided over the outcome of the Taliban visit to China. A large number of journalists have asked the Afghan government to share details of the visit.

“Behind-the-scenes deals cannot solve any problems. The people of Afghanistan expect the foreign ministry, Afghanistan’s embassy in China and the presidential spokesman to provide them with information about the Taliban’s visit to China,” read an editorial in Hasht-e-Subah daily, a Dari-language newspaper based in Afghanistan.

It is also widely believed that Afghanistan and China’s neighbours, particularly Russia and Iran, are also concerned about the prolonged presence of US troops in Afghanistan. In order to safeguard their interests, China, Russia and Iran are keen to establish and maintain relations with Taliban officials.

Afghan Islamic Press, which is considered to be partial to the Afghan Taliban and other jihadist groups, has recently reported that Taliban representatives have also visited Russia. However, this has not been confirmed by the Taliban.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 31^st, 2015.

Afghan prosecution seeks enhanced punishment for Pakistani reporter

Afghan prosecution has sought enhanced punishment for a Pakistani TV reporter, who was awarded four years in prison in July on charges of travelling to the neighbouring country without documents, his lawyer says.

Faizullah Khan, a reporter for ARY News, was detained by Afghan security officials in the eastern Nangarhar province in April this year. Some reports had earlier suggested Faizullah was on assignment to interview Taliban leaders as part of his professional duties.

The Afghan spy agency, National Directorate of Security (NDS), had initially charged him of spying. However, the judge did not accept the NDS plea and convicted him for travelling to Afghanistan without documents, and for “positively projecting the Taliban.”

Later an intelligence court convicted Khan for illegal entry and “positive projection of the militants.”

Khan’s lawyer had challenged his conviction in a high court in eastern Nangarhar province.

The Afghan High Court had a brief hearing of the appeal on September 16, sources close the legal proceedings said. Faizullah Khan was also produced in the court.  

An Afghan prosecutor read out a “charge-sheet” against Faizullah Khan and told the High Court that the intelligence court has convicted the Pakistani reporter only on one charge and that a verdict has yet to be given on other charges.

He also claimed that the “reporter was sent to Afghanistan by the government institutions from Karachi.”

Defence lawyer Hameedullah rejected the charges against his client Faizullah Khan. He said Khan is a professional journalist and he was unaware as to whom he will interview as those who he had interviewed in Peshawar had organized his interviews in the border areas.

“It was not Faizullah Khan’s choice to conduct interviews in the border areas but all were fixed by others,” the defence lawyer further argued.

He said the Pakistani reporter should be acquitted as he had challenged the militants for their violent approach and that their conduct is against the true spirit of Islam.

The Afghan court later adjourned the hearing without giving any date.

In Islamabad the Foreign Office spokesperson the Foreign Ministry is pursuing the case.

“The lawyer and our concerned officials are proceedings with care. We are very much on this case,” spokesperson Tasnim Aslam said at her weekly briefing.

“We have also requested our embassy (in Kabul) and the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs for further meetings to help this case proceeds smoothly,” she said.

She also said the Foreign Ministry has hired a lawyer to take up the appeal in the High Court. “There will be one hearing in which a decision to his appeal will be given.”

The Pakistani consulate in Jalalabad, the capital of the Nangarhar province in Afghanistan, has been involved in the legal help of the journalist.

International and Pakistani media groups had condemned the Afghan court’s verdict and had demanded his immediate release.

Reporters Without Borders had termed it an “utterly disproportionate sentence” and asked for it “to be quashed on appeal.”

“The organisation questions the court’s motives for imposing such a heavy sentence. Was it a message to foreign reporters entering Afghanistan without proper travel documents, or was it a warning to foreign reporters investigating subjects regarded as ‘sensitive’?,” the organization had stated in a statement.

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Kabul issues Afghan passports to ex-Gitmo Taliban prisoners’ families

Afghan government has issued dozens of passports to families of five senior Afghan Taliban leaders, freed from the U.S. prison Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in May this year, and facilitated them to join them in Qatar, Taliban and Afghan officials privy to the transfer of the families, say.

The Taliban leaders says that the Afghan government had issued 65 Afghan passports to the family members of the Taliban this month that was seen as a move to win some sympathy of the Taliban, who had been unwilling to talk to Karzai regime.

“The Afghan President’s office had facilitated transfer of the family members of the Taliban leaders to Qatar and the government had issued Afghan passports to all,” a Taliban leader said. He requested not to be identified as he is not authorized to speak to the media on the record.

Four families of the Taliban leaders were flown to Dubai from Kabul international airport under tight security this month while the family of former Interior Minister Maulvi Khairullah Khairkhwa had travelled from Islamabad’s Benazir Bhutto International airport, he said. The Khairkhwa family was also issued Afghan passports.

The United States had freed the Taliban detainees in exchange for the release of the only American soldier, Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, held prisoner in Afghanistan for nearly five years. Bergdahl had been in the custody of the Haqqani Network the group’s fighters had handed him over to the US special forces somewhere in Khost.

Taliban supreme leader Mullah Omar had described the release of ‘the detainees as a ‘great victory, who had been incarcerated for the last 13 years in the infamous Guantanamo detention center.

“The President office had assigned the senior member of the High Peace Council, Masoom Stanakzai, to quickly arrange all required documents and facilitate their journey to the UAE,” an Afghan official said. The Taliban families later proceeded to Qatar from Dubai. Stanakzai, a close relative of an UAE-based Taliban leader, had been previously been involved in contacts with the Taliban.

The official, who did not want to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue, said that an Afghan security official had been deployed at the airport at the departure of the Taliban family members and they had been given full protocol at the airport.


Those who had been freed include:Khairullah Khairkhwa, the Taliban interior minister, Abdul Haq Wasiq, the Taliban deputy minister of intelligence, Mullah Norullah Nori, a senior Taliban commander in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif, Mohammed Nabi, chief of security for the Taliban, and Mohammad Fazal Akhund, the Taliban defence minister.

Diplomatic sources in Islamabad says that the Afghan embassy in Islamabad has also issued passports to some Taliban leaders, who have travelled to Qatar and UAE. “The embassy had previously been reluctant to issue passports to the Taliban leaders but now they issue passports,” they sources said.
 
Brothers of Taliban’s top negotiators still in Pakistan’s custody:

Afghan Taliban say Pakistani authorities have not yet released two brothers of the Taliban top negotiator in Qatar, Tayyeb Agha, who had been detained in Karachi and Quetta in April, Taliban and Agha’s family sources say.

Pakistan had neither officially confirmed nor explained as to why Younas Agha and Tahir Agha had been taken into custody from Karachi and Quetta. The Taliban had not publicly spoken on the issue since the arrests.

The Taliban sources say that other family members of Tayyeb Agha, including his father, who had been lived for years in Pakistan, have now shifted to Kandahar fearing arrests in Pakistan.

Family members of Tayyeb Agha who had left Pakistan after the arrest of his two brother and had moved to Afghanistan. They have now traveled to Qatar, sources say.

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Mullah Omar says Taliban winning war in Afghanistan

Afghan Taliban supreme leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, on Friday issued his traditional “Eid” message, asking his fighters to protect Afghanistan’s borders. He said Taliban are winning and foreigners loosing war in Afghanistan.

“I call on all Mujahideen in the frontier areas to protect their borders and maintain good relations with neighboring countries on the basis of mutual respect,” said Omar, whose whereabouts are unknown since the U.S. military has dislodged the Taliban government in late 2001.

He assured the world and the neighbors that the Taliban struggle is aimed only at forming an “independent Islamic regime and obtaining independence of our country.”

“We are not intending to interfere in the (internal) affairs of the region and the countries of the world, nor do we want to harm them. Similarly, we don’t tolerate their role to harm us and urge them to have reciprocal stance.”

Omar said Taliban are winning their war against foreign forces and said Taliban will continue fighting until a single foreign soldier stays in Afghanistan.

“We believe the war in Afghanistan will come to an end when all foreign invaders pull out of Afghanistan and a holy Islamic and independent regime prevails here,” he said in the message posted on the Taliban website.

The Taliban chief said the presence of limited number of troops under whatever title it may be will mean continuation of occupation and the war. “This is because none can tolerate invading forces in one’s soil.”

He also opposed the signing of the controversial security agreement with the United States that allows a longer stay of few thousands American troops beyond this year.

“We would like to tell those who are contemplating to sign a security treaty with the invaders to desist from acts which add to prolongation of the invasion and to causes of the war. The presence of the invaders in our country is not in the interest of anyone. The continuation of war aggravates security of the region and the country,” the Taliban leader said. 

He claimed that the Taliban are winning the war in Afghanistan and the “blanket of invasion has rolled back from vast areas.”

“Vital centers of the enemy have come under successful attacks in cities.  Writ and administration of the Islamic Emirate has become stronger comparatively,” he further claimed.

The Taliban leader highlighted the political role of his group and said the Taliban have gained a political facade at world’s and internal levels through their office in Qatar.

“Many entities that used to oppose us now have come around to accept the Islamic Emirate as a reality.”

He recalled that the recent exchange of the detainees with the U.S. as a result of the efforts of the representatives of the Political Office of the Taliban was a spectacular achievement.

The Taliban freed a U.S. soldier for five senior leader released from the infamous American detention center at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

Omar again rejected what he called the fake election process that he said has plunged the Kabul Administration and Western democracy into disrepute.

“In fact, the invaders and their internal allies wanted through the said process, to show to the Afghans that a (tangible) change has taken place. But the Afghans had realized their ambitions from the beginning. That is why majority of the people boycotted the process.”

The Taliban leader claimed all now believe that election and the ballots of the people were mere slogans to deceive the people; sow racial, geographical and lingual and other hatred among the people.

“We all now see that the American game under the name of elections proved, as in the past, to be selections. The power is in the hands of the invaders. What they say is compulsory on their internal allies to obey without taking into account interests of their country and people.”

He urged the American and European governments, who have troops in Afghanistan or are intending to maintain political influence or military bases in Afghanistan, to let the Afghans establish an independent Islamic government on the basis of their religious and national aspirations.

“If you want to deprive them of their right to form a government, it will be not only a tyranny and violation of human norms but also will result in the self-same consequences that you have seen in the past thirteen years,” he said.

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Afghanistan accuses Pakistan of Kabul airport attack

Shortly after Pakistan strongly condemned series of recent terrorist attacks in Afghanistan, senior Afghan officials claimed Pakistan’s security agencies were behind the Thursday’s attack on the Kabul international airport.

Afghan Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack and the group’s spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said four Taliban took part in what he called “martyrdom attacks” as part of their spring offensive codenamed “Khyber.”

Mujahid also released to the media names of four attackers who belonged to different parts of Afghanistan. He claimed the attackers inflicted “heavy losses on the enemy.”

The Afghan authorities however denied any casualties and losses to the aircraft and other infrastructure. The Afghan security forces killed all four Taliban militants during a five-hour gun battle.

The Afghan Interior Ministry however blamed Pakistan’s main intelligence agency ISI besides the militant groups. The Interior Ministry spokesman Siddiq Siddiqi told a news conference in Kabul that attacks on Kabul airport have been increased after the June 8 assault on the Karachi international airport.

“Our interpretation is that after Karachi attack, certain circles, especially Haqani, Taliban and ISI, trie to attack our airport. After attack on Karachi airport international flights postponed there, they fixed evil goal that same attack should be taken place on Kabul airport to stop international flights that we are witness of them,” Siddiqi said, according to an Afghan journalist who attended the presser.

The Afghan official said the Thursday’s attack was third on Kabul airport after the Karachi airport. He also claimed that the attackers were speaking Urdu language, adding “it was a revenge of the Karachi attack.”

Pakistani Taliban and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan had claimed responsibility for the deadly attack that had killed over 30 security, aviation and PIA personnel.

Deputy Interior Minister Gen. Ayub Salangi said: “Intelligence networks of neighbouring countries are behind the attack.”  Two rocket launchers, a machine gun, two Kalashnikov rifles and ammunitions were found at the scene, according to private Pajhwok news agency.

Afghan Taliban have increased attacks since they have launched their traditional annual “Spring Offensive.”

Also on Thursday the Taliban attacked a security team of President Hamid Karzai who was on its way to eastern Paktika province where a powerful car bomb killed nearly 80 persons this week. Two members of the Presidential security team were injured. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack.

In Islamabad the Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Pakistan strongly condemns the recent terrorist attacks in Afghanistan, including the one in Paktika Province, in which a large number of innocent civilians have lost their lives including children.

“No cause justifies such wanton acts of violence, especially in this holy month of Ramadan. We reiterate our condemnation of terrorism in all forms and manifestations,” Tasnim Aslam said at her weekly press briefing.

Kabul has once again directly charged Pakistan just two weeks after senior security officials of the two countries met in Rawalpindi and agreed “to build further trust, continue to talk under all circumstances and evolve a robust and effective bilateral border coordination mechanism.”

The Pakistan Army had raised the issue of “terrorist sanctuaries” in eastern Kunar and Nuristan provinces in Afghanistan and attacks on Pakistani border villages and posts from those sanctuaries with top Afghan defence and intelligence officials on July 3.

President Karzai refuses to meet President Obama at Bagram air base

Afghan Presidential palace says President Hamid Karzai has refused to meet President Barrack Obama at Bagram military base, where he had landed to meet American troops during his unscheduled visit late Sunday.

Obama left Afghanistan after spending few hours with the American troops at Bagram airbase, some 60 kilometers north of capital Kabul.

American officials had sought a meeting of President Karzai with President Obama at Bagram military base, the President palace said in Kabul.

“The U.S. embassy in Afghanistan, in a contact, had conveyed a request for a meeting with Afghan President and talks with President Obama at the Bagram military base,” the statement said.

“In response, President Hamid Karzai, said Afghan government is ready to warmly welcome the U.S. president at the Presidential Palace in accordance to Afghan traditions. However the President will not go to Bagram to meet President Obama,” the statement posted on the Presidential website said.

Karzai’s snub came just hours after the Afghan government decided to formally lodge a protest with the United States over recording of almost all phone calls in Afghanistan.

The Presidential Palace said in a separate statement that President Karzai presided over a cabinet meeting and described the phone taping by the American military as violation of Afghanistan’s sovereignty.

Afghan officials said that the U.S. used that equipment for phone taping which had been imported by the American military for anti-narcotics activities.

Karzai’s refusal to meet President Obama is continuation of his tensions with the United States following his unwilling to sigh a controversial security agreement that will allow some U.S. troops top stay beyond this year.

Despite recommendation by a traditional “Loya Jirga” or a grand assembly of tribal elders in November last year, calling upon President Karzai to sign the Bilateral Security Agreement, he had refused to ink it.

Karzai had put several condition for signing of the BSA including halt to raids on Afghan homes by the NATO troops and brining the Taliban to the negotiation table.

The U.S. had been anxious Karzai signed the agreement, however, now it has attached hopes to a new Afghan leader to sign it.

Both presidential candidates, Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, have hinted to sign the agreement if elected to power. The election runoff will be held on June 14.

President Obama however spoke with President Karzai to congratulate  him on the conduct of the first round of elections for President and Provincial Councils and to praise the constructive role played by the President and the people of Afghanistan in the elections, the Presidential palace said on Monday.

“President Obama hoped that the 2nd round of the Afghan elections would too be completed successfully,” the palace said in a separate statement.

During the telephone conversation last Sunday, the two leaders also talked about the peace process of Afghanistan.

“President Karzai informed President Obama that the swearing-in ceremony for the next President of Afghanistan will be held on 2nd August, this year and hoped that the US would also be represented at a senior level in the event.”

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Pakistani Taliban decide not to extend ceasefire: spokesman

ISLAMABAD, April 16 -- Pakistani Taliban Wednesday said they have decided not to extend ceasefire, the group's spokesman, Shahidullah Shahid said. He, however, said the dialogue process will continue.

The extended ceasefire expired on April 10.

A senior Taliban intermediary Prof. Ibrahim said the group's negotiators will encourage the TTP leadership to continue the ceasefire. He told the media that the Taliban have not stopped the dialogue process.

"The government should clarify as to what obstacles it is facing to take the dialogue process ahead," he said shortly after the Taliban announcement. He urged the government to take steps for bridging the trust gap.

The Taliban had earlier declared a month-long ceasefire on March 1st and later extended it for ten more days. The government had also suspended airstrikes against the Taliban hideouts in Waziristan tribal regions.

The Taliban spokesman accused the government of failing to make any progress on the Taliban's demands.

"The Central Council of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan has unanimously decided not to extend the ceasefire," the TTP spokesman said in a statement.

The Taliban spokesman, however, said that the dialogue process will continue with complete “sincerity and seriousness,” that could keep hopes alive for a halt in the attacks.

“The TTP will not be reluctant from to take serious steps if the government makes some progress on our demands,” he said in a detailed statement.

The spokesman said the TTP showed “complete restraint and tolerance” over the ongoing operation with the “root out” code name during the negotiations that caused widespread losses to the Taliban.

“We tried to control our colleagues from any provocation and kept our intermediary informed about the development. We have made it clear to our negotiators that the government’s actions are very harmful for the dialogue process.”

“There had neither been any progress on the Taliban demands for the release of the non-combatant prisoners nor on establishing a peace zone. The government even did not put a pause on the operations against the Taliban,” the TTP spokesman claimed.

The Taliban wanted the government returns some areas in South Waziristan tribal region for the future talks; however, the security forces had opposed the proposal.

The security forces had cleared most of the Mehsud-majority areas after they had launched a major ground and air operation in October 2009. Most of the TTP leaders had later sneaked into the neighbouring North Waziristan.

The TTP spokesman said the ceasefire was expired six days ago however the government had been mysteriously tight lipped about the dialogue process.

“It seems that the real center of power are now active and want to impose decision of their choice on the people,” Shahidullah Shahid said.

He claimed that the Taliban had started dialogue with sincerity and adopted soft attitude during the talks on every phase of the process.

“We took all necessary steps that could provide strong basis for successful dialogue.”

“In spite of differences over the government’s demand for a unilateral ceasefire all the Taliban leadership convinced all unites to declare a month-long ceasefire in the best interests of Islam and the country. We gifted the month long ceasefire to the nation however the government has not made any progress on the TTP’s initial, genuine and just demands.”

He was of the view that the peace zone, release of the non-combatant prisoners and halt to “anti-Taliban operations” had been solid proposals to promote and build trust. “However, the government did not bother even to discuss the demands.”

Giving details of what the TTP spokesman claimed the losses as the result of the operations during the 40-day ceasefire, he alleged the government covertly continued its “root-out” operation that reflects the “non-seriousness” of the government.

“Our more than 50 colleagues, who had been arrested over links with the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, were martyred during the 40-day ceasefire,” Shahidullah Shahid went on to say.

“Over 200 innocent people were arrested from different areas for links with the TTP,” he further claimed.

The TTP spokesman said the security forces conducted nearly 100 raids and 25 search operations and “brutal torture of the TTP detainees had also been continued under a plan.”

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