In Islamabad "Angry Karzai confronts Pakistan's leaders over Taliban"

Angry Karzai confronts Pakistan's leaders over Taliban
By Saeed Shah
McClatchy Newspapers [via Miami Herald]
February 17, 2012

ISLAMABAD — An angry Afghan President Hamid Karzai confronted the Pakistani leadership Thursday, demanding that it produce Taliban officials for peace talks and underscoring the distrust between Kabul and Islamabad, which stands in the way of a deal to end the decade-long Afghan conflict.

As Karzai's frustration with Pakistan, which he accuses of harboring the Taliban, boiled over, the mercurial Afghan leader's language and tone flared to such an extent that the Pakistani prime minister halted a key meeting of the full delegations of the two countries, according to officials on both sides, who spoke only on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

After a break, top officials reconvened for a smaller meeting, including Karzai, a rocky start to his two-day visit to Islamabad.

The nascent Afghan peace talks depend on the neighbors being able to cooperate, but Karzai has long demanded that Pakistan bring the leadership of the Taliban to the negotiating table, including their chief, Mullah Mohammad Omar.

According to one official who was privy to the discussions Thursday, Karzai bluntly demanded that Pakistan produce Taliban leaders to negotiate with him during his visit, an aggressive stance that shocked the Pakistani side.

The Afghan side's main meeting, which went on for around three hours, was with the combined Pakistani civilian and military leadership. The Pakistani prime minister, foreign minister, army chief and head of the military's Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate spy agency were present.

At one point, apparently directing his remarks to Pakistan's foreign minister, Hina Rabbani Khar, Karzai asked: "Would you be willing to stop girls studying in schools and university in Pakistan?"

The Taliban, who ruled Afghanistan in the 1990s, imposed an extremist interpretation of Islam, stopping girls' education and banning women from working. Kabul and its Western allies believe that Mullah Omar and other Taliban leaders have an officially sanctioned haven in Pakistan, giving Islamabad decisive leverage over any negotiations.

Islamabad has denied those charges, and Khar, speaking to a small group of reporters after the meetings, called the accusations "ridiculous."

"We don't have Mullah Omar to bring," Khar said. "That's the crazy perception about Pakistan."

She described the discussions with the Afghan delegation as "hard" and "serious," declining to go into details. Pakistan has said it will back Kabul's peace efforts but has never spelled out what it's capable of delivering. Conversely, Pakistan says that it's unclear what Karzai is demanding of it.