US capitulates to Afghan Taliban: Negotiating retreat schedule

Posted on 21 May 2009. Tags: Afghan, Pakistan, Taliban, US capitulates to the Taliban, USA

The inevitable is here.

This may be 411 (information) for some, but it was obvious to the serious analyst.

Carrying the White Man’s Burden mush be hard for President Obama. Rudyard Kipling must be turning in his grave. Many White men have tried and failed. Its not an easy burden to carry. The byline to the bluster is the frustration of a country bankrupted by the never-ending wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Even the mighty USA cannot afford to spend $3 Trillion on wars. Lord Curzon of the mighty British Empire gave up on it after the defeat at the battle of Maiwand. Uneasy is the head that wears the crown presiding over the worst defeat of US and NATO forces since Vietnam. Defeat is a hard burden to carry. Countdown to 2011 is a difficult countdown. Tick Tock Tick Tock: Obama’s shrinking Afghan timeline-2011.

Reversing Anti-Americanism in South Asia: Building bridges with Pakistan. The American people are sick and tired of wars. They want peace. Listing the reasons for the perpetual mimetic war would force us to delve into an arcane expression from the cold war–”The Military Industrial Complex” run by Haliburton, Bechtel and others. The ordinary American has seen through the fog of fear mongering and bigotry. It will not put up with torture and lies.

Bluster before Exit: Obama’s last hurrah—30,000 troops “for 18 months” then withdrawal by 2011

International Council of Security and Development (ISOC): Taliban control “virtually all” of Afghanistan

Justifying the Banality of a brutal Occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan: The Thinktanksattempt to complete the circle of complicity between a sycophantic press, and a non-inquisitive servile public. The nation is forced to accept the only argument that it is being repeatedly inundated with

The pathological indecisiveness of the Obama Administration’s Afghan policy is depicted by a blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat which isn’t there. It is pedagogical to note that after a dozen reviews by every imaginable intelligence and non-intelligence agency in the world, the CIA, the NSA, the NIE and dozens of so called think tanks, all they could come up with is perpetuation of Bush’s policy. The Bush Administration went into Kabul ostensibly to capture and collect Osama Bin Laden. That name is totally absent from the American political vernacular. What’s the goal now? No one knows. …and we are supposed to believe the CIA now?

Pakistan is facing the brunt of the rhetoric–another chip for the new Crusades.

When Freedom fighters turn terrorist

The world is reaping the harvest of the horrendous mistakes committed by the Bush Administration. Terrorism is not indigenous to Pakistan. It is the direct consequence of American invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and American Drone attacks in FATA. The world will continue to reap the harvest of the seeds of murder and assassination sown by President Obama’s adjutants. Its not just Mr. Barack Obama, there are about half a dozen special envoys to Pakistan and Afghanistan, the US has one, Canada has one, the UK has one, France has one, and to top it all even Italy has a special envoyfor Pakistan and Afghanistan. All clones who echo his master’s voice Half a dozen Forest Gump envoys with an IQ of 4. Afghanistan: Truth not Orwellian propaganda

Who is the blind man in the Obama Administration? If it was one, it would have been easy. He has a herd of the near-sighted and the short-sighted nincompoops who don’t have a clue about the poltergeists of the Indus. There are the three stooges, Admiral Mullen, General Petraeus, and Mr. Richard Holbrooke who can’t tell a Pakhtun from a hole in the ground. Then of course there is the perpetually rude Ms. Hillary Clinton who never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity to mend fences with the Pakistanis.

On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton again lamented America’s ‘incoherent’ dealings with Pakistan over the last 30 years. She made it clear that Washington had abandoned Islamabad once the Soviets were forced to withdraw from Afghanistan. It was also implied that the US had supported military dictators instead of the people of Pakistan. Now, according to Ms Clinton, the US is busy building a ‘clear, honest’ relationship with the popularly elected government in Pakistan. Editorial Dawn

While Clinton’s statement was a movement in the right direction, it did not include an apology to the Pakistani people and did not include compensation for the abandonment and the ensuing mess that Islamabad inherited. But worst of all, Clinton poured water on her mea culpa by here rudeness, by her breaking protocol, and by saying that Pakistanis are paranoid about India. Delhi has more than 80% of her forces deployed on the Pakistani borders and this is the main reason for Pakistan’s apprehension about Indian intentions. These legitimate concerns should be appreciated and recognized.

Mr. Bruce Riedel in his book clearly said that he wanted to convince the Pakistanis into fighting the Taliban. A few dozen explosions disguised as “suicide bombings”, a few videos, and an incessant campaign of paranoid hysteria of “Barbarians-at-the-gate”, and purchase of the 5th column media goaded Mr. Zardari into doing the dirty work of the Americans. There is a larger dimension to this. End of US Exceptionalism & Crisis of Profilgacy: An exit strategy defines the limits of US power in the Hindukush.

Hillary Clinton just nabbed $48 Billion to rachet up the Pravada and Izvestia type of Goebelish propaganda that permeates the airwaves these days. Don’t take our word for it, Congressman Dennis Kucinich believes that the US media is presents fewer views than the media of the old USSR. Just because it is in English doesn’t make it true. Just because it is in print in the USA doesn’t make it factual. The New York Times aided by the Murdock media perpetuated the lies of the Iraqi WMDs and created an atmosphere that made torture acceptable, Gitmo possible and Abu Ghraib permissible. Every Sunday talk show carried the video of the woman being spanked, none carried the sufferings of the people of Swat.

The headlines about Pakistan in the media: Understanding the Rupert Murdock-Neocon-Hinduvata doomsayer machine which is running scared of defeat and retreat

The twitching of the bankrupt York Times, the neurosis of the Washington Post and the hysterics of the Murdock media depict the depth of the US delirium. Like an orchestra they, along with the Indians launched a crazed campaign of comical panic at all frequencies of the audio and visual spectrum. The 5th column led by dawn.com chimed in. The ”Wage the war“ campaign steeped in a deep Pakistanphobic psychoneurosis was led by the vampires like Asma Jehangir, Ayaz Amir, Ikram Sehgal, Pervez Hoodbhoy and other character assassins of the creeping variety. Obituary of the Pakistani Media’s 5th column: Can the Anti-Pakistan dawn.com halt Dawn’s slide towards irrelevancy and catalepsy? Thirsty for blood, they created a scenario in which waging war was considered the only option. Peace with the TTP had to end. There could be no discussion with the “Taliban”.

There is an irony to this situation.

White man speaks with forked tongue.

While the US and its acolytes in Islamabad were goading the Pakistan Army into taking out the TTP, the US itself was in deep negotiations with the Taliban. The negotiations were being held with Gulbaddin Hikmatyar and a plethora of other hard core Taliban who have been fighting the US occupation forces in Afghanistan.

Obviously what is good for the goose is not good for the gander.

While negotiations with the TTP were considered Pakistani capitulation to the extremists, British peace deals with the Taliban were kept off the pages of the Guardian and even the Independent. While Fisk, Arnett, Morgolis and Leupp went hoarse describing the duplicity of London’s policy, the CNNs and Zakarias of the world took Pakistan to task for implementing the will of the people of Swat. it is mandatory for the Reapers to rain hellfire missiles on a demonized enemy in FATA, but its OK to talk peace with the militants in Helmund and Khost.

Bomb them in Waziristan, America’s freedom depends on it. But talk to them in Zabul. Its OK!

So whats next in the saga of superpower incompetence, imperialistic hubris and US exceptioanlism learning the limits of power? Like an alcoholic the US military machine cannot hear the cacophony of real voices about Afghanistan. It is unable and unwilling to hear the facts of life in Afghanistan. Selective Amnesia of Americans: Pakistan is the most mistreated friend in the world. Like a cheating spouse the State Department keeps secrets which come back to bite them. Like a pathological liars the think tanks are unwilling to hear the truth about the Hindu Kush. Like a drunker sailor in a catatonic stupor the Secretary of State Ms. Clinton rushes from pillar to post making eloquent speeches which have no bearing to reality. Half the Indian Army is poised in Kashmir. Several armored and infantry division are arrayed along the Pakistan border. the IAF has squadrons of Migs and SUs at forward air bases in Ambala, Adampur, and Jamnagar. India occupied Siachin while Pakistanis was busy defeating the USSR in the 80s. In 2002 Bharat placed more than a million men on the Pakistani border threatening all out war. If Ms. Clinton has selective amnesia, she may remember that in 2008 Bharat threatened war on Pakistan and brought out Steven Cohen’s Cold Start Strategy. It was Pakistani nukes that kept them at bay. Pakistani fears about Bharat are real and it will never leave its border exposed to the Saffron Brigades bent upon creating the ephemeral Akhand Bharat that extends from Kabul to Raj Kalhani (a mythical land East of Bali, Indonesia).

The think tanks have an agenda. That is apparent to all except the 5th column in their payroll.

“This is not our war”: Imran Khan on Prosaic delivers rare positive message & debunks Afghan war myths. Washington cannot hear the voices of sanity coming out of Islamabad. Pakistantold them in 2001 not to invade Kabul–that would only stir up the hornet’s nest. The Pakistani administration offered to station 5000 Marines who would raid Afghanistan and nab Osama Bin Laden. The arrogance of power disallowed sanity to prevail. It is content in hiring the likes of Pervez Hoodbhoy and Ikram Sehgal who make up history sitting in their living rooms. They hire “historians” to write books on politics using authors from open admission universities in Pakistan. Ahmed Rashid, a darling of the West can only spell “Taliban”. His office in the Quaid e Azam University cannot even teach history to his own students. Today his book has been read by General Petraeus who is eager to read what supports his point of view. Afghanistan fiasco: Cleaning up the Am-Brit failures in Kabul again. Instead of listening to Shireen Mazari and Imran Khan, they are listening to the Hoodbhoy trope. Instead of reading Roedad Khan, they are reading the claptrap of Asma Gilani. Instead of hearing the voices of the Jamat e Islami, they are tuned in to the US Ambassador’s favorite cherry picked NGOs. There is something wrong with this picture. “They” ignore the resolutions of the National Assembly and place their cards in the hands of “analysts” that they can purchase for a Dollar and a day trip to Washington.

KABUL, Afghanistan— Leaders of the Taliban and other armed groups battling the Afghan government are talking to intermediaries about a potential peace agreement, with initial demands focused on a timetable for a withdrawal of American troops, according to Afghan leaders here and in Pakistan.

Talks have been held with representatives of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a warlord.

The talks, if not the withdrawal proposals, are being supported by the Afghan government. The Obama administration, which has publicly declared its desire to coax “moderate” Taliban fighters away from armed struggle, says it is not involved in the discussions and will not be until the Taliban agree to lay down their arms. But nor is it trying to stop the talks, and Afghan officials believe they have tacit support from the Americans.

The discussions have so far produced no agreements, since the insurgents appear to be insisting that any deal include an American promise to pull out — at the very time that the Obama administration is sending more combat troops to help reverse the deteriorating situation on the battlefield. Indeed, with 20,000 additional troopson the way, American commanders seem determined to inflict greater pain on the Taliban first, to push them into negotiations and extract better terms. And most of the initial demands are nonstarters for the Americans in any case.

Even so, the talks are significant because they suggest how a political settlement may be able to end the eight-year-old war, and how such negotiations may proceed. They also raise the prospect of potentially difficult decisions by President Hamid Karzai and President Obama, who may have to consider making deals with groups like the Taliban that are anathema to many Americans, and other leaders with brutal and bloody pasts. Some of the leaders in the current talks have been involved with Al Qaeda.

While the talks have been under way for months, they have accelerated since Mr. Obama took office and have produced more specific demands, the Afghan intermediaries said. The New York Times. Taimoor Shah contributed reporting

Pakistanhas faced lectures on how to fight an insurgency, how to deal withthe militants, and how to make peace deals. The Pakistan Army saved the derrieres of the US Marines in Somalia, and have held the peace in many African countries now faces training from the Australians and the Britishers. The same UK that lost in Iraq, and Afghanistan now has the temerity to tell Islamabad on how to run a counter-insurgency operation.

The nuances of the Khyber are not not apparent to to the thick headed the dense. London’s epiphany about an existential threat to Pakistan is not matched by its willingness to send choppers, night vision glasses, bullet proof vests, and Humvees to the Frontier Corps. The Vietnamese banshee fortels the future for America.

Today it is ready to pack up its bags.

The Taliban leaders, through their spokesman, and those of other armed groups publicly deny that they are involved in any negotiations. But several Afghans here and in Pakistan say they have been talking directly to the Taliban leadership group headed by Mullah Muhammad Omar, the movement’s secretive founder. The council is based in the Pakistani city of Quetta.

Discussions have also been held with representatives of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a longtime warlord witha record of extreme brutality, and with Sirajuddin Haqqani, whose guerrilla army is based in the tribalareas of Pakistan. Mr. Haqqani’s group is also known for its ruthlessness and for sending suicide bombers into Afghanistan.

“America cannot win this war, and the Taliban cannot win this war,” Mullah Abdul Salaam Zaeef, a former Taliban ambassador and one of the intermediaries, said in an interview. “I have delivered this message to the Taliban.”

The talks under way now appear to be directed not at individual bands of anti government insurgents — the strategy suggested by President Obama — but at the leaders of the large movements.

Mr. Pervez Hoodbhoyis on the US payroll as a Security Analyst. One wonders what experience qualifies him to be a security analyst? The CIA standards must have taken a drubbing. It used to be able to hire the best and the cream of the crop. Now it has to content with the scum of the earth with no credibility. Pervez Hoodbhoy has been on the Pakistani TV talk show circuit drumming up support to bomb Mangora. How can he sleep at night knowing that just across the Durand Line the US and the UK are holding peace deals with the allies of Mulla Omar. Obama’s Afghan ‘Strategy’ without an “Exit Plan” is a ‘Straightjacket’ named quagmire & defeat

American officials insist they are not participating in any talks. “The U.S. would support such efforts only if Taliban are willing to abandon violence and lay down their arms, and accept Afghanistan’s democratically elected government,” said Ian Kelly, a State Department spokesman. Still, two of the principal intermediaries, Mr. Zaeef and Daoud Abedi, said they had held extensive discussions with American officials.

A State Department memo described a single meeting with Mr. Abedi, but said it ended abruptly because American officials were not permitted to meet with representatives of Mr. Hekmatyar. There is no independent confirmation of Mr. Zaeef’s claim to have met with Americans.

Afghan officials said they welcomed the talks. “The government has kept all channels of communication open,” said Homayun Hamidzada, a spokesman for Mr. Karzai. “This includes the Taliban and Hekmatyar.”

Mr. Abedi, an Afghan-American businessman from California and a member of Mr. Hekmatyar’s political party, the Islamic Party, said he conducted negotiations in March. Guerrill as loyal to Mr. Hekmatyar are battling the Americans in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan. His political partystill has a wide following in the country.

In an interview, Mr. Abedisaidhe undertook the negotiations — with Mr. Hekmatyar and with the Taliban leaders — at the behest of the State Department, a claim that American officials deny. Mr. Abedi said he met several times with American officials in Washington before and after his trip to Pakistan and Afghanistan. He declined to say which American diplomats he met, saying, “I am a Pashtun, and I swore on my honor that I would not revealthe names of the people I met with, so I cannot.”

Mr. Abedi said he hammered out a common set of demands between the Taliban and Mr. Hekmatyar’s group. The groups agreed to stop fighting if those conditions were met, Mr. Abedi said. The Taliban’s demands seem incompatible with much of Mr. Obama’s strategy, which is to substantially weaken the Taliban through a combination of military force and economic development.

Nor did the deal Mr. Abedi described mention either Osama bin Laden or Ayman al-Zawahri, the two senior Qaeda leaders believed to be hiding in Pakistan under the protection of the Taliban or some other armed group.

The first demand was an immediate pullback of American and other foreign forces to their bases, followed by a cease-fire and a total withdrawal from the country over the next 18 months. Then the current government would be replaced by a transitional government made up of a range of Afghan leaders, including those of the Taliban and other insurgents. Americans and other foreign soldiers would be replaced with a peacekeeping force drawn from predominantly Muslim nations, with a guarantee from the insurgent groups that they would not attack such a force. Nationwide elections would follow after the Western forces left.

As for Mr. Hekmatyar, Mr. Abedi said that he maintained a “direct link” withhim, and that he was authorized to negotiate on his behalf. He did not meet with Afghan government officials.

After the agreement between the Taliban and the Islamic Party was reached, Mr. Abedi said, the Taliban leaders added more conditions: an end to the drone attacks in Pakistan’s tribal areas, and the release of some Taliban prisoners.

Mr. Abedi said that when he returned to the United States with his proposal, he was greeted with enthusiasm by officials at the State Department. But he said they never called him back.

Mr. Hekmatyar earned a reputation as an especially brutal commander in the civil war that engulfed the country in the 1990s, in particular for the relentless bombardment of Kabul between 1994 and 1996 that killed an estimated 40,000 civilians during an attempt to capture the capital.

In 2002, after Mr. Hekmatyar resisted the American invasion, the Americans tried to kill him with a missile fired from a remotely piloted airplane. They missed.

The other main negotiation is led by Mr. Zaeef and Arsallah Rahmani, a former Taliban minister and now a member of the Afghan Parliament.

“We are not talking to low-ranking people — we are talking to the leaders,” Mr. Rahmani said in an interview. Mr. Zaeef was the Taliban’s ambassador to Pakistan; he served nearly four years in American military prisons, including the one at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

Their plan would be for the guerrillas and the government to reconcile slowly, starting with the least contentious issues. One of the main low-level demands of the opposition leaders is that their names be removed from a so-called blacklist, contained in a resolution passed by the United Nations Security Council, which obliges governments to detain them. More difficult issues would follow.

“Blood begets blood, but talking begets peace,” Mr. Rahmani said.

Mr. Zaeef said the public declarations of Mullah Omar, who usually vows to fight on, are not necessarily to be taken seriously.

“A policy can have many faces,” he said. The New York Times. Taimoor Shah contributed reporting.

The stubborn Pakistanis. The US and the West is used to dealing with corrupt politicians in Islamabad. It doesn’t know the depth of nationalism that runs in the veins of the Pakistanis. The resilience of Pakistan and the nation’s continuing collective refusal to do what the west would like it to do

The British and the Canadians are leaving the party in Kabul for the comforts in Toronto and London. That would be a good time for the Indians to pack their Samsonites and get out of “Dodge” too. If they won’t pack their bags themselves the Taliban will pack them for the Bharatis. Its happened before. It will happen again.

Tick Tock Tick Tock: Obama’s shrinking Afghan timeline-2011. Rupee News had already predicted that the Obama Administration has ’till 2011 to wave its magic wand and fix Af-Pak. The problem is, its not just Af-Pak, its actually Graveyard of Empires: AfPak-TurkTaj-UzbKaz-AzKyr -istan.

This is way over the head of Chicago politicians.