Afghan community leaders want insurgents in peace council

Community leaders from a key province want the government to invite insurgents to sit alongside tribal elders and religious leaders.

PUL-E-ALAM, LOGAR // Community leaders from one of Afghanistan's major provinces say the war will end only when the government asks foreign troops to leave and engages in clear peace talks with the country's main insurgent groups.

Residents in Logar, a crucial transport hub linking Kabul to the south and east, believe an upcoming national peace council can help to bring a resolution to the nine-year conflict. But many are adamant that members of the Taliban now involved in the resistance must participate for it to have a significant effect - a scenario that seems unlikely at the moment, with both sides still at odds over the terms of any negotiations.

Haji Yaqoot Shah, a village leader from the district of Charkh, where "all you can hear are a lot of gun shots", says: "If it is an Afghan jirga and we have a delegation of the Taliban involved in the work, let's be clear: I am supporting it." Having twice been delayed after it was originally scheduled for early May, the peace council, or "jirga", is now due to take place from Wednesday to Friday.

Tribal elders and religious leaders from across the country have been invited to attend the event, which is meant to help establish the grounds for negotiations with the insurgency. The Taliban has already denounced the gathering and is not expected to send any representatives. Instead, it will continue to demand the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Afghanistan. Here in Logar there is widespread sympathy for that stance, with people commonly blaming the United States and its allies for the violence in their midst. However, there is also a feeling that the rebels and the government must try to put aside their differences or the situation will deteriorate further.

Describing the Taliban as "my big brothers", Mr Shah said: "Fighting will not solve anything." Logar's border with Kabul makes it a vital transport link for much of the country. Military convoys travelling to and from the south and east move through the province; the Taliban are also believed to use it as a route for ferrying weapons and men into the capital. It has been the site of a number of lethal incidents in recent years, including an ambush in 2008 that left three female foreign aid workers and their Afghan driver dead. The Taliban accused them of being spies.

In April, lorries carrying fuel for Nato were set on fire in a protest by Logar residents, who claimed that a night raid by US forces had killed civilians. Then this month, a number of civilians were killed when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb in the province. Mohammed Zahir Siddiqi, a village leader from Charkh and former chairman of the cultural and information department in Logar, said he supported the peace jirga "if it has a delegation from the Taliban". Like many here, his anger was largely directed at international forces.

"According to our constitution, no one can attack a man in his house or on his land. And according to the law, no one can attack or arrest anyone without the decision of the court. If someone enters your house without permission, you can kill him," he said. The peace jirga comes at a time when both the Afghan government and the international community are trying to put a renewed emphasis on reconciliation with elements of the insurgency.

Low-level militants in particular are being called on to lay down their arms in exchange for jobs and vocational training. Rebel leaders may also be offered exile outside the country if they agree to stop fighting. Although the Taliban have shunned this week's jirga and consistently denied taking part in any negotiations, a second insurgent group has already been involved in peace talks. Hizb-e-Islami, which has strong support in Logar, sent a delegation to Kabul in March, where it laid down a series of demands that included a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops.

The United States has said it backs reconciliation, but in public at least it rules out the prospect of striking a deal with senior insurgents, including the Taliban's spiritual leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar. The chairman of the provincial council, Al Haj Abdul Hakim Sulamenkhil, claimed foreign troops had "only made problems" in the past nine years. "Look, the police, army and Taliban are our brothers. When they are killing each other it means we are killing our brothers."