KABUL — The UN envoy to Afghanistan called on the Taliban Wednesday to join peace efforts as the bulk of NATO combat troops prepare to leave the country by the end of next year. Meanwhile, Afghanistan says it's ready to work for peace without Pakistan's help. “My message to the insurgency is basically a sort of long-term message: you are Afghans, you care, I assume, about your country, you care about peaceful stable future of the country,” Jan Kubis told a news conference. The withdrawal and next year's presidential election, when President Hamid Karzai will step down after 13 years in power, have lent urgency to the search for a negotiated settlement to end Afghanistan's decades of conflict. The Taliban, ousted from power by a 2001 US-led invasion for refusing to give up Al-Qaeda after the 9/11 attacks, are leading a deadly insurgency against Western troops and the Afghan government. When NATO troops leave, Afghan police and soldiers will take responsibility for security. There are fears that without some kind of settlement, the country could return to the horrors of its 1992-96 civil war. Pointing out that a “strong motivation” for insurgents was the fight against foreign troops, Kubis said: “There will be no international fighting force at the end of 2014. “Take this into account. Adjust and take necessary measures to contribute to the surge of a peaceful and stable Afghanistan after 2014.” Efforts by the international community and the Afghan government to bring the Taliban to meaningful negotiations have largely been thwarted. The Taliban publicly refuse to hold direct talks with Kabul, considering it a US puppet. The militia broke off tentative contacts with the United States in Qatar in March 2012 after the failure of attempts to negotiate a prisoner exchange as a confidence-building measure. Karzai said he plans to visit Qatar, with US backing, to discuss the proposed opening of a Taliban office in the emirate as a prelude to possible peace talks. The UN envoy welcomed Karzai's visit. “We took good note of the plan of Mr President to visit Qatar these days and again we hope that some messages are coming after this visit,” Kubis said. Until earlier this year, Karzai rejected the idea of a Taliban office in Qatar because of fears that his government would be frozen out of any deal between the United States and the militants. The president has often called the Taliban “brothers” in a gesture to promote reconciliation, but he also accuses them of holding secret talks with the US at the same time as they launch suicide attacks that kill civilians. Pakistan, which backed Afghanistan's 1996-2001 Taliban regime, has pledged its support for an office in Doha to promote peace and for any Afghan-led initiative to stabilize the neighboring country. Meanwhile, Afghanistan is shocked by Pakistan's “complacency” in the nascent Afghan peace process and is ready to work without Islamabad's help on reconciliation, Deputy Foreign Minister Jawed Ludin told Reuters on Wednesday. It was the first time Afghanistan has suggested the possibility of going it alone without its neighbor. Regional power Pakistan is seen as critical to stabilizing Afghanistan because of its long ties to insurgent groups. Ludin also said the government would look to senior Taliban prisoners recently handed over by the United States in Bagram prison to urge militants to pursue peace. He did not elaborate. But Ludin, who is widely believed to shape foreign policy, told Reuters in an interview that Afghanistan had noted a shift in Pakistan's position towards peace efforts that are gaining more urgency as foreign forces prepare to leave by the end of 2014. “We here in Kabul are in a bit of a state of shock at once again being confronted by the depth of Pakistan's complacency, we are just very disappointed,” he said. “But what has happened in the last few months for us, (we)see that Pakistan is changing the goal post every time we reach understanding.” — Agencies
