Rabbani heads peace council

AFGHANISTAN: Afghanistan’s former president Burhanuddin Rabbani, who has been implicated in war crimes, was elected Sunday chairman of a new peace council set up to broker an end to the war with the Taliban.

The High Peace Council is President Hamid Karzai’s brainchild, intended to open a dialogue with insurgents who have been trying to bring down his government since the US-led invasion overthrew their regime in late 2001.

The 68-member council, hand-picked by Karzai, was set up following a nationwide conference in June and was inaugurated on October 7 amid mounting reports of secret peace talks with Taliban leaders and key insurgent groups.

Rabbani, who was president during Afghanistan’s chaotic 1992-1996 civil war, was elected to chair the council at its second session Sunday in what Karzai’s office described as a “unanimous” vote.

Delivering his acceptance speech, Rabbani said he was “confident” that peace was possible, according to a statement from the palace.

“I hope we are able to take major steps in bringing peace and fulfil our duties with tireless effort and help from God,” he was quoted as saying.

According to Human Rights Watch, Rabbani is among prominent Afghans implicated in war crimes during the brutal fighting that killed or displaced hundreds of thousands of Afghans in the early 1990s.

With the current war now into a 10th year, record numbers of Western troops and Afghan civilians are dying and the Taliban is more powerful than at any time since its ouster. The government has increasingly been discredited by graft.

Kabul, Monday, AFP