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| Afghanistan/South Asia | |
| 4 senior Taliban accept amnesty | |
| 2005-02-16 | |
| Four senior Taliban leaders have accepted a reconciliation offer from the Afghan government, a Western official with direct knowledge of the deal said Tuesday. Under the agreement, which the official said would likely be announced within days, the men recognized the legitimacy of President Hamid Karzai's government in exchange for assurances that they would not face arrest by Afghan or foreign security forces. The official identified the four as Abdul Hakim Mujahid, formerly the Taliban's envoy to the United Nations; Arsullah Rahmani, the former deputy minister of higher education and a former commander in southeastern Paktika province; Rahmatullah Wahidyar, the former deputy minister of refugees and returnees; and Fawzi, the former charge d'affaires at the Afghan Embassy in Saudi Arabia and then first secretary at the Afghan Embassy in Pakistan. Like many Afghans, Fawzi uses only one name.
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| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #2 "He’s waiting to be unleashed." And remember, bub: if you start aiding the terrorists, we'll get Lyndie out of prison and re-leash you. Seriously, like many of the low-level people in WWII Germany or Japan, I suspect lots of people were not actively engaged in atrocities. They were just keeping their heads down, doing their administrative job, and hoping they'd live long enough to get their pension. Just as long as they don't take the money and forward it to the terrorists. |
| Posted by: jackal 2005-02-16 8:11:56 AM |
| #1 Keep your enemies close as they say. This seems win/win to me. If they are bad boys, it will be easier to arrange a cross-fire accident close to home. It's always best to put even your most radical elements into the electoral process. That way, the leaders will use all those "charity donations" to assure their own election rather than build bombs. A nice title provides them the power and prestige they want badly enough to kill for, and eventually they get fat and lazy from feeding at the state trough. Their lemmings are placated with a place to send their checks and an occasional puppet and fist clenching parade. Ultimately, that's probably more cost effective than fighting against them. |
| Posted by: 2b 2005-02-16 7:29:21 AM |