Karzai to Open Negotiations with Taliban

  Afghan President Hamid Karzai has reached out to the Taliban earlier

this week, according to the New York TImes, in an effort to bring about a

peaceful resolution to the conflict waging between Taliban insurgents

and US and allied backed Karzai government. This report comes at a time when

the war against the Taliban has risen in violence and destruction, with constant Taliban

attacks against US forces and the Afghan government in order to destabilize the country.

After months of stalled efforts to negotiate with the Taliban, the top American Commander in Afghanistan General David Petraeus told reporters Monday that the Karzai administration has been contacted by Taliban leaders. Petraeus compared the conditions of a cease-fire with the Taliban to the IRA in Northern Ireland. that they would have to respect Afghanistan's Constitution and surrender their weapons. Petraeus had recently said that US forceshave managed to curb the extent of Taliban activity, despite continued violence. Prior to negotiations, Karzai has announced the formation of a 70-member peace council which will negotiate with the Taliban. The council is mostly composed of Afghan government officials, many of them anti-taliban, a few influential former members of the Taliban government, and at least 8 women, a move made to show the Afghan government continued support for women's rights. The council will not directly negotiate with the taliban but will instead appoint smaller commissions of neutral parties to do it. This course comes reportedly from Karzai's lack of faith in coalition forces to bring security to Afghanistan, prompting his government to chart it's own course.

This new move is not the first attempt by the government to reconcile with the Taliban. In recent years since the spike in taliban violence, Karzai has attempted numerous times to bring the taliban to the negotiation table, but with no success.This attempt seems to be have better organization than previous ones, and also has the backing of NATO and US.The outcome of this now is unclear, but if there is a success this could mean the end of conflict in Afghanistan. However, the outcome will also depend on the willingness, or unwillingness, of the taliban to negotiate or to continue their campaign. Also to consider is that whether the taliban will keep their word on any peace settlement.