Pakistan arrests of senior Taleban hit secret talks, says former UN envoy

THE arrests of leading Taleban figures in Pakistan abruptly halted secret UN contacts with the insurgency at a time when the efforts were gathering momentum, the UN's former envoy to Afghanistan said yesterday.

Kai Eide, a Norwegian diplomat who has just stepped down from the UN post in the Afghan capital, said the discussions that he and others from the UN had with senior Taleban members began in the spring of 2009 and included face-to-face conversations in Dubai and elsewhere.

He criticised Pakistan for arresting the Taleban's No 2 and other members of the insurgency, saying the Pakistanis surely knew the roles these figures had in efforts to find a political resolution to the war. Pakistan denies that the arrests were linked to reconciliation talks.

"There was an increase in intensity of contacts, but this process came to a halt following the arrests that took place in Pakistan," Mr Eide said.

Last month's detention of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar – second in the Taleban only to Mullah Mohammed Omar – infuriated Afghan president Hamid Karzai, according to his advisers. One official said Baradar had "given a green light" to participating in a three-day peace conference Mr Karzai is hosting next month.

However, Gen Athar Abbas said yesterday that Baradar's arrest, which he said was a joint operation with the US, was not connected to any peace talks.

During a visit to Afghanistan last week, US defence secretary Robert Gates said it was premature to expect senior members of the Taleban to reconcile with the government and until the insurgents believe they can't win the war, they won't come to the table.

US Secretary of state Hillary Clinton has said she is highly sceptical that Taleban leaders will be willing to renounce violence.

But Foreign Secretary David Miliband said the Afgan government should aggressively pursue a political settlement while the US-led military surge is putting pressure on the Taleban.

Mr Miliband said in a speech at Massachusetts Institute of Technology this month that a political settlement needs the support of Afghanistan's neighbours and should include "those parts of the insurgency willing permanently to sever ties with al-Qaeda" and abandon armed struggle.

Mr Eide said there was a lull in contacts between the UN and the insurgents around last summer's Afghan presidential election, but then they intensified.

"It's quite clear that the level of contact was increasing over the last few months to one point and that's when you had the number of arrests in Pakistan," he said.

He said there were many channels of communication with the Taleban, including those involving Mr Karzai's representative. The negotiations must be led by the Afghans, but that contacts have been made by other parties.

Mr Eide said the UN had met senior figures in the Taleban leadership as well as people who have the authority from the Quetta Shura, the Taleban's ruling council, to engage in such discussions. He said he believed that the talks, which he said were still in the early stages, could not have taken place without the blessing of Omar, the Taleban leader.

Mr Eide predicted it would take months or even longer to establish confidence on both sides.