Matt Dupee looks at the expulsion of two European Union and United Nations diplomats and the heated debate over their and British intelligence’s involvement in talks with the Taliban in southern Afghanistan.
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British troops battle the Taliban on the outskirts of Musa Qala. EPA photo, click to view. |
The political row over the expulsion of two European diplomats who allegedly engaged in negotiations with the Taliban in Helmand province has thrust the idea of talking to the Taliban back into the spotlight. The two diplomats, Michael Semple, head of the European Union mission in Afghanistan, and Mervyn Patterson, a top UN official in Afghanistan, flew back to Europe on Thursday after being declared personas non grata late on Tuesday.
The controversy erupted after the pair met with unnamed Taliban leaders in southern Helmand province within the last two weeks. Afghan officials became incensed after learning about the secret meetings third hand. The US Ambassador William Wood, said the pair’s expulsion by the Afghan government resulted from a lack of coordination with Afghan officials and is a misunderstanding Afghan officials called the act “detrimental to the national security of the country.”
Details of the exact nature of Semple and Patterson’s actions remain murky. However, it is believed the pair traveled to Helmand’s Musa Qala district a few days following Operation Snake Pit, which wrested control of the town away from Taliban fighters who overran the city 10 months prior. The pair met with Taliban leaders and discussed the future prospects for security in the district. Afghan officials say the pair became involved in activities that “were not their jobs,” and allegedly President Hamid Karzai was never informed of the pair’s intentions or preplanned trip to the district. Unnamed Afghan officials also allege the two had transferred an unknown amount of cash to the Taliban, a serious, but so far unfounded, accusation.
Musa Qala has been a thorn in the side for the Karzai administration ever since the Taliban overran it in February. Shortly before the operation was launched to retake the town in December, an Afghan journalist for a local TV station was arrested following his short trip into the district center.
The decision to expel the pair comes at a chaotic time as President Karzai and Western officials have repeatedly endorsed then reneged on their decision to hold negations with the Taliban. Following a deadly suicide strike in Kabul on September 29, President Karzai publicly offered a spot at the negotiating table for Mullah Omar, the Taliban’s supreme commander, and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the former prime minister and fugitive terrorist leader. Karzai also asked God to forgive the Taliban following the Eid al Adha Muslim festival on December 19. US and British officials have repeatedly endorsed talking low-to-mid-level Taliban but only if they renounce violence and recognize the Afghan Constitution. Any involvement with global jihadist groups like al Qaeda automatically disqualifies the individuals for talks. The Afghan government’s national reconciliation program, Takhim-E Solh, has preformed this task since its inception in 2005.
Britain, however, has held secret jirgas, or councils, with Taliban leaders six times since this summer, an unnamed intelligence source told the British Daily Telegraph, who broke the story on Wednesday. “The SIS [Secret Intelligence Service, aka MI6] officers were understood to have sought peace directly with the Taliban with them coming across as some sort of armed militia. The British would also provide ‘mentoring’ for the Taliban.”
“These meetings were with up to a dozen Taliban or with Taliban who had only recently laid down their arms,” an intelligence source said. “The impression was that these were important motivating figures inside the Taliban.”
The disclosure comes at a comprising time for the UK as British Prime Minister Gordon Brown during a question forum in Parliament on December 12 denied his country would talk to the Taliban. According to the UK Guardian newspaper, Brown stated his plan is “to defeat the insurgency by eliminating their leadership. I make it clear that we will not enter into any negotiation with these people.”
The exposure of the multiple MI6 meetings has created a firestorm of discord among British parliamentarians The report’s disclosure only enflamed the political furor over the expulsion of Semple and Patterson on Thursday. The British have a long standing attempt to negotiate with the Taliban, including the unsuccessful peace deal in late 2006 that handed the Musa Qala district over to local elders in order to make the district a neutral zone.
Taliban fighters quickly enveloped the town and eventually seized it three months after the peace deal. They held onto the district’s capital for 10 months, consolidated their iron grip on the residents, established terror training camps, and created a functioning opium processing center.
3 Comments
Good article. Most Afghans now favor negotiations and power sharing with the Taliban–even though the large majority of Afghans view the Taliban very negatively.
In view of current Pakistani developments, negotiations with parts of the Taliban are very likely inevitable and necessary.
I would give the leaders of this movement no qaurter. The regular Afghan who will lay down his weapons is another story. They are led by “men” who rarely pick up a weapon, live way above the regular soldiers means, and send out poor people to do thier dirty work. The only way to peace in a-stan goes through the NWFP’s, which have been ceded by Musharraff. Only after these “safe” havens have been destroyed there may be some peace. I guess the Brits have been reading Neville Chamberlains guide to peace. NATO is losing all credibility. I want Mehsud’s head on a plate. Sounds delicious…don’t ya think?
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