US gets cosy with Taliban's point
man By Syed Saleem Shahzad
KARACHI - In the search for a single unifying
force in chaotic Afghanistan, such as "moderate"
Taliban, to bring political stability before November's
US presidential elections, focus has once again fallen
on the firebrand Pakistani cleric Maulana Fazlur Rehman,
who during the Taliban regime was used to build bridges
with the rest of the world.
Rehman, 52, heads
the Jamiat Ulema-i-Ulema-i-Islam (Rehman group - JUI),
one of the most influential organizations in Pakistan
working for what is described as a "pure Islamic state".
The JUI is
the driving force in the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA),
a coalition of six religious parties that holds 60 seats
in parliament. In a controversial move, Rehman in late
May was chosen by the Speaker as official opposition
leader. Although a largely ceremonial post with limited
authority, his appointment became a bone of
contention between the MMA
and other opposition parties, such as the Pakistan
People's Party of former premier Benazir Bhutto.
But while these parties were crying foul because
their candidate had not been chosen, a broader
significance of Rehman's nomination emerged: he was
selected soon after returning from a little-publicized
and unscheduled visit to England. Earlier, in March, in
Pakistan, Rehman had met with visiting British Foreign
Minister Jack Straw.
The significance of these
events emerged in comments Rehman made to a local
journalist. "The British authorities are working on
behalf of the United States. This indirect process has
been chosen to avoid any ill-effects ahead of the
forthcoming presidential elections in America ...
Britain is holding indirect talks with the Taliban
militia to seek an honorable American exit from
Afghanistan."
By implication, Rehman will
mediate in this process.
During a visit to
Washington this week, Afghanistan's interim president,
Hamid Karzai, after meeting with US President George W
Bush, was asked about political negotiations ahead of
September's scheduled elections. He commented: "I will talk
to anybody that comes to talk to me about stability and
peace and about movement to democracy."
Asia
Times Online spoke to Rehman on Wednesday evening, when
the cleric called from his National Assembly chambers.
Asia Times Online: Moves have been
afoot for about a year to carve out "good Taliban"
without leader Mullah Omar. Are you working on the same
lines?
Fazlur Rehman: After the
Taliban fell [in late 2001] and a United Nations
resolution called them terrorists, we conveyed the
message to all Western powers that this was not the
solution to the [country's] problems, and would result
in instability in Afghanistan. Now the Taliban are
underground ... the whole country is in deep chaos and
without leadership. This is the threat we always pointed
to in the past. Whenever there was a chance to interact
with any Western country officials, we conveyed the same
message [engage the Taliban].
ATol: Did
you think your message got across?
Rehman: Yes, of course. There is a
visible change in behavior. They know that elections are
the real pulse which reflects public opinion, and if the
masses cease to participate in the process of elections,
whether because they do not believe in the present
election process or because of any other reason - like
law and order - what credibility will the US leave
behind? Mr Jack Straw came to Pakistan this year and I
spoke to him about the same thing, saying, 'Please, do
not abandon the Taliban as they are the real binding
force in Afghanistan,' and Mr Straw agreed with me that
the dialogue process should not be closed with any party
in Afghanistan.
ATol: When you recently
visited Britain, did you talk on this issue, and at what
level?
Rehman: I had the chance to
interact with Mr Mike O'Brien, British minister for
trade and investment. At the same time, I was invited to
different institutions which work under the British
Foreign Office. I clearly told them all to remove their
mental hangups concerning the Taliban.
ATol:
Do you see any positive response?
Rehman: Yes. The situation is not like
yesteryear, when Western powers were not ready to listen
to the name "Taliban". Certainly now they are preparing
their minds for many compromises.
Rehman is in
many ways the perfect choice to act as a mediator with
the Taliban.
The Taliban leadership was mostly
educated in the madrassas (seminaries) of North
West Frontier Province on the border with Afghanistan
(Rehman's home province) or Balochistan, incidentally
the two provinces from which the MMA now draws most of
its support. Many Taliban were students of Rehman's JUI,
the main political face of the Deoband school of Islamic
thought in Pakistan.
As a result, when the
Pakistani Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) during
Benazir Bhutto's government sent Rehman to Kabul after
the Taliban seized power in 1996, he was welcomed with
open hands, and he was able to establish strong contacts
between Kabul and Islamabad, which was then able to
stamp its impression on the Taliban regime.
Interestingly, before the emergence of the
Taliban, Rehman never supported the Afghan resistance
movement against the Soviets in the 1980s. Instead, he
called it a proxy US war - in one sense he was right,
the mujahideen were actively supported and supplied by
the United States to counter the Soviets.
Whether or not Rehman can succeed in his task
remains a moot point. There are many within Afghanistan
who believe that the Taliban, with their strict
religious philosophies, are the only people capable of
bringing order to the country. However, all previous US
efforts to cultivate "good Taliban" have ended in
frustration, mostly because of the US demand that Mullah
Omar be excluded.
"There is no doubt that the US
has tried its level best in the last year to pursue the
Taliban to give up the resistance and be a part of the
Kabul government, but the question in the Taliban mind
is: 'How serious is the US really?'" commented the
former director general of the ISI, retired
Lieutenant-General Hamid Gul.
"Does the US
really want a truce, or does it only want to engage the
Taliban to buy some time? If the US is really serious,
why does it not release their [Taliban's] high-profile
leaders in Guantanamo Bay as a goodwill gesture, and
then invite the Taliban for talks?" said Gul.
"One must always bear in mind that the dynamics
of many things have changed, but in the present Taliban
movement there is no question of a Taliban without
Mullah Omar. Similarly, if the US wants to speak to the
Taliban, it has to keep in mind that Afghans have never
tolerated a foreign presence on their land, therefore
they would have to have their exit strategy ready before
any real round of talks could start," said Gul.
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US gets cosy with Taliban's point
man
contention between the MMA
and other opposition parties, such as the Pakistan
People's Party of former premier Benazir Bhutto.
