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A day after the High Peace Council formally started its work; Washington hoped that the peace talks with the Taliban would accelerate but reiterated that the top Taliban leader Mullah Omar is disqualified from this. The US officials have shown full confidence in the leadership of the former President, Burhuddin Rabbani, who head the High Peace Council. Rabbani's selection for the key post has been criticised by some politicians, arguing that he is not the best person to mediate talks with the Taliban -- a group he fought against for many years.
"So we certainly believe in an inclusive Afghanistan society, various groups that perhaps have been in the conflict in the past that can come together and join forces for the benefit of Afghanistan. That is the essence of the political process that is getting underway," the US State Department spokesman, P J Crowley, told reporters.
Extending full support to the peace process, Crowley said it is an Afghan-led process. "President Karzai has appointed members of the peace council. I think Ambassador Holbrooke has indicated now that we’ve got the structure in place and these individuals in place, we expect this process to accelerate," he said.
Crowley said that there’s no indication that Mullah Omar has any intention of meeting the standards that has been laid out for the peace talks. "He has had many opportunities to disassociate himself with Al Qaeda. Everything that we know suggests he still is closely affiliated with Al Qaeda, and as such, would disqualify himself from any participation in this process or any involvement in the future of Afghanistan," he said.
Referring to the peace process, Crowley said there are contacts between the Afghan government and the Taliban and acknowledged that the US is helping to facilitate those meetings.
"The facilitation really involves the movement of people to meeting locations, but beyond that, we are just simply doing what the Afghan government has asked us to do to promote this process. We are supporting this process, and we think it’s critical to resolving the conflict that is ongoing," Crowley said.
Meanwhile, the White House announced that the US President, Barack Obama, would hold a situation room meeting on the current situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan on Wednesday.
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"So we certainly believe in an inclusive Afghanistan society, various groups that perhaps have been in the conflict in the past that can come together and join forces for the benefit of Afghanistan. That is the essence of the political process that is getting underway," the US State Department spokesman, P J Crowley, told reporters.
Extending full support to the peace process, Crowley said it is an Afghan-led process. "President Karzai has appointed members of the peace council. I think Ambassador Holbrooke has indicated now that we’ve got the structure in place and these individuals in place, we expect this process to accelerate," he said.
Crowley said that there’s no indication that Mullah Omar has any intention of meeting the standards that has been laid out for the peace talks. "He has had many opportunities to disassociate himself with Al Qaeda. Everything that we know suggests he still is closely affiliated with Al Qaeda, and as such, would disqualify himself from any participation in this process or any involvement in the future of Afghanistan," he said.
Referring to the peace process, Crowley said there are contacts between the Afghan government and the Taliban and acknowledged that the US is helping to facilitate those meetings.
"The facilitation really involves the movement of people to meeting locations, but beyond that, we are just simply doing what the Afghan government has asked us to do to promote this process. We are supporting this process, and we think it’s critical to resolving the conflict that is ongoing," Crowley said.
Meanwhile, the White House announced that the US President, Barack Obama, would hold a situation room meeting on the current situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan on Wednesday.
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