The creation of a Peace Council will seek ways to end the fighting

KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghan President Hamid Karzai is backing away from his preconditions for peace talks with the Taliban by giving full autonomy to a newly formed council tasked with opening negotiations, one of its members said.

Set up by Karzai after it was approved by a grand assembly he summoned in June, the High Peace Council aims to find ways to end a war now in its 10th year and will sit down this week to devise a mechanism for starting the talks.

Karzai has always demanded the Taliban and other militants renounce violence and al-Qaida, accept the Afghan constitution and lay down their arms before talks can start.

Analysts say that is tantamount to seeking the surrender of the Taliban, who have gained strength in recent years and spread to the previously peaceful north of the country despite the presence of nearly 150,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan.

But when the 68-member High Peace Council was inaugurated on Thursday, Karzai, Afghanistan's leader since the fall of the Taliban in late 2001, said his government would not interfere in the council's decisions as it tries to start talks.

Atta Ullah Ludin, a lawmaker in parliament and member of the council, said he saw Karzai's comments as a sign the president was backing away from his long-held demands.

"The previous conditions were a bit tough and tight. He has given unconditional authority to the council this time," Ludin told Reuters in an interview when asked whether he considered Karzai's latest comments a significant shift.

"In politics there are such softenings. And this proposal of His Excellency, Karzai, is very rational for giving the High Peace Council full authority," he added.

Karzai's spokesman, Waheed Omer, declined to comment directly on Ludin's interpretation of the president's remarks, saying only that the government respected the council's independence but would ensure its actions did not erode recent achievements.

"The government will deliberate on any of its decisions," he said.

Reuters

(China Daily 10/13/2010 page12)