THE TALIBAN have denied meeting the United Nations’ special representative in Afghanistan and have vowed to persist in their war “against the invaders”.
The denial came in response to news reports that Kai Eide, the outgoing UN envoy, held a meeting in Dubai last month with members of the Taliban leadership.
The UN has not confirmed that such a meeting took place, although US secretary of state Hillary Clinton said in Paris on Friday that Mr Eide wanted to draw “his own conclusion about the mindset of some of the Taliban members”.
In an e-mailed statement on Saturday, the Taliban leadership council described such a meeting as “mere futile and baseless rumours”.
“The leadership council once again emphasises continuation of Islamic jihad against all invaders as a means to frustrate these conspiracies,” the statement read.
Little is known about the alleged secret talks, including whom Mr Eide, a Norwegian diplomat, met from the Taliban and what was discussed.
Mr Eide visited Dubai last month.
Western officials in Kabul said the majority of the Taliban leadership, believed to be based in the Pakistani city of Quetta, remained staunchly opposed to any negotiations with coalition forces.
One official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, described Mr Eide’s meeting as “a first step” towards setting up future talks.
“It’s certainly not an initiative where Mullah Omar has reached out and said, ‘Let’s have dinner’. This is trying to peel someone out from the inner circle who may want to discuss,” the official said, referring to Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar.
“We’re nowhere near the stage where someone in Quetta is going to say, ‘Yes, let’s talk’.”
Arsallah Rahmani, a former minister in the Taliban government, said Mr Eide did meet Taliban officials, but he described the dialogue as in its infancy. “It’s a very sensitive issue right now,” he said.
A former Taliban official said Abdul Salam Zaeef, the former Taliban ambassador to Pakistan, took part in the talks. Mr Zaeef could not be reached for comment.
Afghan president Hamid Karzai has made overtures to the Taliban and last week proposed convening a traditional tribal gathering to jumpstart peace talks.
The Taliban have not said whether they would take part in such a meeting and have often reiterated their basic demands: that coalition forces leave Afghanistan and free Taliban prisoners.
The UN Security Council last week lifted sanctions on five former Taliban officials, including Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil, a former foreign minister under the Taliban government.
"As a human being, this is my legal right, and I welcome that. I'd been expecting something like this, but at the same time I was not very optimistic it would happen," he said. "As part of the peace process, it was a good step to remove the Taliban's names from the blacklist." – ( Washington Post-Bloomberg)