Layton wants to negotiate with the Taliban!!!!
I am sure all the Taliban dream about is negotiating with Canada.
Canada should withdraw its troops from the current mission in southern Afghanistan and invite Taliban fighters to peace talks, NDP Leader Jack Layton said yesterday.What on earth would he tell the Taliban???
"We believe that a comprehensive peace process has to bring all combatants to the table. You don't accomplish peace if those who are fighting are not involved in the peace-based discussion," he said.
posted by GayandRight @ 9:22 AM
5 Comments:
Why the faux outrage?
NATO, and by extension Canada and Gordon O'Connor, are already negotiating with the Taliban.
As this CP story outlines here:
Taliban talk about disarming
Canadians, NATO involved in quiet negotiations
As militants mass, faction signals desire for dialogue
Aug. 18, 2006. 08:08 AM
BRUCE CAMPION-SMITH
OTTAWA BUREAU
OTTAWA—In a significant move, Canadian and NATO officials in southern Afghanistan are involved in sensitive negotiations with Taliban fighters after discreet backroom signals from insurgents that they might be willing to lay down arms.
News of the surprise offer was quietly welcomed by allied military officials caught in the crosshairs of a swelling insurgency that has killed seven Canadian soldiers since July 22.
Disarmament talks are unfolding even as "hundreds" of fighters mass west of Kandahar in an ominous prelude to a potential battle.
The overture for potential peace came when a faction of Taliban insurgents in Panjwai region southwest of Kandahar signalled it wanted to talk to NATO's International Security Assistance Force or the United Nations about disarming.
"They didn't want to have a dialogue on disarming or stopping fighting with the Afghan government directly," one source told the Toronto Star.
For now, though, Afghan authorities are leading the sensitive talks, with NATO and Canadian officials keeping a close eye on the progress.
"We have a detailed understanding of how these negotiations are proceeding and would provide support wherever the Afghan government asked," said one military official familiar with the process.
Publicly, though, allied forces are taking a back seat, anxious not to undermine an already shaky Afghan authority. Signalling just how discreet the talks are, NATO has denied having direct contact with the Taliban.
"ISAF has not been directly approached by any faction of the Taliban," said Canadian Forces Maj. Scott Lundy, a NATO spokesman, by phone from Kandahar yesterday. "We welcome any group that is willing to set down its weapons and begin a dialogue using any number of existing avenues through the Afghan government."
Allied troops have had some success convincing individual Taliban fighters to give up their weapons. Canadians scored a victory in June when Mullah Ibrahim, from a district west of Kandahar, repented for his time as a Taliban leader.
But what makes this latest case different is that a group of insurgents has come forward.
"How big they are, that's anyone's guess," one official said.
In the tangled world of Afghan diplomacy, officials were cautioning against hope of a quick resolution. "Nothing is done in a really direct manner. It's protracted," said one official.
I see that the Globe and Mail is running a poll question on this today and that 50%+ of respondents think that the Taliban should be consulted.
Of course it is really easy to 'fix' a Globe and Mail poll, all you have to do is click 'refresh' and 'retry' multiple times, then wait 60 seconds, and--presto--multiple votes. And it doesn't matter if you've "already voted".
Not to be taken seriously, Globe and Mail polls.
I would always talk to the taliban if they are interested in surrendering...anything short of that..i'm not interested.
fred
No-one should be surprised with Jack Layton's opinion for Afghanistan.....He represents many Canadians on the left, New Democrats, Greens and many Liberals.
Layton wants Canada to send a contingent to Southern Lebanon and to the Darfur Region of the Sudan, regardless of what happens with the Afghani people if we were simply to cut and run.
But, what about the changing public opinion of the country? What about the fact that more and more Canadians are opposing Canada's UN sanctioned mission in Afghanistan? The longer that Canada is there, and the more dead Canadians are returned home, the less likely it will be for the Harper government to get their hoped-for majority; it's very likely that they will be defeated.
Jack Layton is perfectly allowed to travel to Afghanistan and talk to the Taliban or whoever he wants to, in fact he should be encouraged to go there.
But Jack won't go because he's a craven little man with no integrity whatsoever - all his words are meaningless drivel.
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