Post on a weblog today -


US Offers Taliban 6 Provinces for 8 Bases
By Aamir Latif, IOL Correspondent


ISLAMABAD – The emboldened Taliban movement in Afghanistan turned down an American offer of power-sharing in exchange for accepting the presence of foreign troops, Afghan government sources confirmed.

"US negotiators had offered the Taliban leadership through Mullah Wakil Ahmed Mutawakkil (former Taliban foreign minister) that if they accept the presence of NATO troops in Afghanistan, they would be given the governorship of six provinces in the south and northeast," a senior Afghan Foreign Ministry official told IslamOnline.net requesting anonymity for not being authorized to talk about the sensitive issue with the media.

He said the talks, brokered by Saudi Arabia and Turkey, continued for weeks at different locations including the Afghan capital Kabul.

Saudi Arabia, along with Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates, were the only states to recognize the Taliban regime which ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001.

Turkish Prime Minister Reccap Erodgan has reportedly been active in brokering talks between the two sides.

His emissaries are in contact with Hizb-e-Islami (of former prime minister Gulbadin Hikmatyar) too because he is an important factor in northeastern Afghanistan."

A Taliban spokesman admitted indirect talks with the US.

"Yes, there were some indirect talks, but they did not work," Yousaf Ahmedi, the Taliban spokesman in southern Afghanistan, told IOL from an unknown location via satellite phone.

"There are some people who are conveying each others’ (Taliban and US) messages. But there were no direct talks between us and America," he explained.

Afghan and Taliban sources said Mutawakkil and Mullah Mohammad Zaeef, a former envoy to Pakistan who had taken part in previous talks, represented the Taliban side in the recent talks.

The US Embassy in Kabul denied any such talks.

"No, we are not holding any talks with Taliban," embassy spokeswoman Cathaline Haydan told IOL from Kabul.

Asked whether the US has offered any power-sharing formula to Taliban, she said she was not aware of any such offer.

"I don't know about any specific talks and the case you are reporting is not true."

Provinces for Bases

Source say that for the first time the American negotiators did not insist on the "minus-Mullah Omer" formula, which had been the main hurdle in previous talks between the two sides.

The Americans reportedly offered Taliban a form of power-sharing in return for accepting the presence of foreign troops.

"America wants 8 army and air force bases in different parts of Afghanistan in order to tackle the possible regrouping of Al-Qaeda network," the senior official said.

He named the possible hosts of the bases as Mazar-e-Sharif and Badakshan in north, Kandahar in south, Kabul, Herat in west, Jalalabad in northeast and Ghazni and Faryab in central Afghanistan.

In exchange, the US offered Taliban the governorship of the southern provinces of Kandahar, Zabul, Hilmand and Orazgan as well as the northeastern provinces of Nooristan and Kunar.

These provinces are the epicenter of resistance against the US-led foreign forces and are considered the strongholds of Taliban.

Orazgan and Hilmand are the home provinces of Taliban Supreme Commander Mullah Omer and Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

"But Taliban did not agree on that," said the senior official.

"Their demand was that America must give a deadline for its pull out if it wants negotiations to go on."

It would not surprise me if that was true.

I haven't heard about this either. You're right about it being a gambit though. Talk about risky. Didn't they learn anything when the results came in after Pakistan ceded the Swat valley to the Taliban?

"In exchange, the US offered Taliban the governorship of the southern provinces of Kandahar, Zabul, Hilmand and Orazgan as well as the northeastern provinces of Nooristan and Kunar.

These provinces are the epicenter of resistance against the US-led foreign forces and are considered the strongholds of Taliban.

Orazgan and Hilmand are the home provinces of Taliban Supreme Commander Mullah Omer and Afghan President Hamid Karzai."

No wonder the Taliban leaders didn't go for this deal, because it really didn't give them anything useful in fighting who they consider the enemy. Ie, four provinces that are adjacent to each other, including two other provinces further northeast, in exchange for a U.S. airbase in Kandahar. Besides, they already have 'shadow' governors in place as far as they are concerned, and have influence in the above provinces to some extent.

If this posted story is true, then it is interesting to note that the U.S. is now willing to negotiate in this manner by bribing them the same way that Pakistan did.

Hogwash!

Is anyone else in the media talking about this or is this just some unsourced article by "islamonline.com?"

quote:

Originally posted by Ba5tard5word:
Is anyone else in the media talking about this or is this just some unsourced article by "islamonline.com?"

..... Mr Latif writes on Pakistani political affairs for US News and World Report and has also written for UNESCO. I nevertheless consider the report to be in need of some sort of corroboration because Islamonline has so far been the only source for it.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Blutarski2004,

It's laughable, especially from the Taliban side... They'd never accept it.
From the US side.. dey crazee deese guys you know

If true.. it is a huge mistake.

Yes, it would be a big mistake.

Embrace an enemy who very much wants to horribly kill you and your family as well.
It would give the taliban a victory.

The only logic I could see in this would be a deception tactic to get OBL into a taliban controlled area, locate him via informant, hellfire his a$$ with a predator drone and then pearl-harbor the hell out of their whole damned governed areas with B-52s and the like.