Some Taliban 'agree on vote peace deals'

15 Aug 2009, 6:30 am   -   Source: AAP
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The Afghan government says a series of peace deals had been reached with Taliban commanders in a bid to ensure people can vote safely in a presidential poll.

The Afghan government says a series of peace deals had been reached with Taliban commanders in a bid to ensure people can vote safely in next week's presidential poll.

Ahmad Wali Karzai, the younger brother of President Hamid Karzai, has told AFP he had asked community leaders in the troubled south to persuade grassroots Taliban leaders not to target next Thursday's vote.

"I asked (community) elders to talk to the Taliban and they have done, and have assured me that the local Taliban have agreed not to cause trouble," Karzai, who runs his brother's election campaign in the south, said on Friday.

"There are some agreements already reached between elders and local Taliban, but not with those Taliban who are part of al-Qaeda.

"There are some small local Taliban groups who have agreed not to create any problem on election day. The elders have convinced them that this is against the interests of the people and of Pashtuns," he said.

The Pashtuns are Afghanistan's largest ethnic group, to which both Karzai and mainstream Taliban belong.

Asked how the deal would work, Karzai refused to give details but said of the insurgents: "Maybe they will turn a blind eye."

President Karzai is tipped to win a second term in office, but analysts say he needs to shore up his ethnic Pashtun powerbase in the southern provinces, where the worst of escalating Taliban violence has been concentrated.

Karzai has repeatedly called on Taliban and other insurgent groups to lay down their arms for a reconciliation which would include protection for their leaders now being hunted by international forces.

Speaking to a campaign rally in the western city of Herat, Karzai reiterated a long-held promise to make the peace talks with insurgent groups his "top priority" should he win the election.

"Afghanistan has reached the point where it will stand on its own feet very soon and no Afghan will be arrested and jailed by foreigners any more," he said, referring to scores of Afghans who have been imprisoned mostly by US-led forces during their operations against Taliban insurgents.

Taliban threats to prevent people from reaching polling stations have raised concerns that voter turnout could be low, thus compromising the legitimacy of the results.

As polling day looms, election officials say fears of violence could prevent hundreds of polling stations across the country from opening, cutting the planned number of voting destinations by up to 12 per cent.

Ahmad Wali Karzai said the violence could not prevent his Western-backed brother from winning as most of his votes were expected to come from urban areas where the Taliban has limited influence.

"Actually our vote will be coming from the major cities - we have up to 70 per cent or more of the vote in the cities," he said.

The presidential vote and parallel elections for provincial councils are set for August 20.

But Taliban leaders have repeatedly dismissed any prospect of talks with Karzai's government until all US and NATO-led forces withdraw from the country.

"We have not talked to anyone," Yousuf Ahmadi, a Taliban spokesman, told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location.

"Neither our local commanders nor our leadership have spoken to anyone and will not do so," he said.

There are more than 100,000 US and NATO-led forces deployed in Afghanistan along with double that number of Afghan security forces hunting rebels in a series of assaults to secure more territory ahead of the ballot.

Ahmadi said his insurgent group planned to disrupt the vote by closing roads leading to polling stations, adding: "We'll be attacking Afghan and foreign troops on the election day."

Karzai, who has been in office since the Taliban was forced from power in a US-led invasion in late 2001, is expected to prevail over about 40 challengers, including former members of his cabinet Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani.

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