Afghan President Hamid Karzai held an unprecedented meeting on Monday with representatives of a major Taliban-linked militant group, boosting his outreach to insurgency leaders to end the eight-year war.
Less certain is whether the talks with the weakened Hizb-i-Islami faction represent a game-changer in the conflict, given its demand to rewrite the Afghan Constitution and force a quick exit of foreign forces.
It is the first time that high-ranking representatives of the group, led by warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, have traveled to Kabul to discuss peace. The reconciliation offer from Hekmatyar contrasts with his reputation as a ruthless extremist.
Hekmatyar, who is in his 60s, was a major recipient of US military aid during the war against the Soviets in the 1980s but fell out of favor with Washington because of his role in the civil war that followed the Soviet withdrawal.
The US government declared Hekmatyar a “global terrorist” in February 2003, saying he participated in and supported terror acts committed by al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
Unless that tag is removed, the designation could complicate any move by the US to sign off on a deal, even though in recent years Hekmatyar has expressed a willingness to negotiate with the Karzai government.
A spokesman for Hekmatyar said the delegation had lunch with Karzai at the presidential palace and planned to meet with him again.
Karzai’s spokesman, Waheed Omar, said the president would study the peace plan.
“We’re not in a position to comment on the concepts that they provided,” he said.
However, Maqbul Ahmad, a deputy to a Karzai adviser who met with the delegation, said the two sides had resolved about 60 percent of the issues being negotiated. He predicted an agreement could be reached before the end of the week.
Afghan Minister of Economy Abdul Hadi Arghandiwal, leader of a political party that split off from Hekmatyar, said contacts that had been under way for months were apparently moving forward, or the delegation would not have made the trip to Kabul.
“I welcome this effort. I hope that this kind of negotiations continues and that we will witness a delegation from the Taliban coming to start negotiations,” Arghandiwal said.
The Hizb-i-Islami delegation is led by Qutbudin Halal, who served in the government of former Afghan president Burhanuddin Rabbani in the 1990s, and includes a Hekmatyar son-in-law.
Three members of the group arrived in Kabul from Europe on March 6, according to a member of the group who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the negotiations. Two others arrived in the past few days.
The delegation member said the group was determined not to leave the capital without a deal. He said the group would work to gain the confidence of the Afghan government, then will talk with Afghanistan’s international partners.
However, some of the demands might be hard for Karzai and his international partners to accept.
The 15-point plan that a Hizb-i-Islami official e-mailed to reporters was described as an offer of cooperation “to save our homeland from the ongoing painful condition” and permanently end war.
The top demand, repeated throughout the plan, is for foreign forces to begin withdrawing in July — a year ahead of US President Barack Obama’s desired deadline to begin a pullout.
After foreign troops leave Afghanistan, the group said presidential, parliamentary and provincial elections should be held in the spring next year.
The group said the newly elected parliament would have the right to rework the Constitution. Karzai has in the past agreed to negotiate with those that embrace the current Constitution.
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