[Dhaka Tribune] Some factions within the Afghan Taliban are considering taking part in a grinding of the peace processor that officials from Afghanistan and Pakistain aim to revive next week, several senior members said, in a softening of the krazed killers' recent stance against talks.Next week's meeting in Islamabad between officials from Afghanistan, Pakistain, the US and China is intended as the first step towards resuming stalled negotiations aimed at ending the 14-year-old war that kills hundreds each month and has intensified in the past year.
Whether the Taliban, increasingly dominant on the battlefield since the withdrawal of most international troops by the end of 2014 yet riven by factional infighting, eventually joins the talks is far from clear.
Even if it did, those present would only represent part of the Islamist krazed killer movement fighting to topple the government in Kabul
...the capital of Afghanistan. Home to continuous fighting from 1992 to 1996 between the forces of would-be strongman and Pak ISI/Jamaat-e-Islami sock puppet Gulbuddin Hekmayar and the Northern Alliance, a period which won Hek the title
Most Evil Man in the Worldand didn't do much for the reputations of the Northern Alliance guys either....
and restore strict Islamic rule in place before it was ousted in 2001.
But important elements of the Taliban have signalled they may be willing to send negotiators at some point.
Afghan officials say the meeting schedule does not include any Taliban representation, but they do not rule out the possibility of the group joining at some stage.
With security worsening, Kabul is trying to limit expectations of a breakthrough, and says the aim of next week's talks is to work out a road map for peace negotiations and a way of assessing whether they remain on track.
Is there a Taliban at all?
After six months of worsening fighting, with the province of Helmand
...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan...
slipping out of control and frequent suicide kabooms in the capital, Afghanistan and its neighbours are trying to return to peace talks, albeit without the Taliban for now.
Leadership divisions may impede progress, with some krazed killer factions saying they will not take part.
The announcement last July, shortly after inaugural talks between Kabul and the Afghan Taliban were staged, that its founder Mullah Mohammad Omar had been dead for more than two years, threw the krazed killer group into disarray, stopping the fledgling grinding of the peace processor in its tracks.
Mullah Akhtar Mansour, Mullah Omar
... a minor Pashtun commander in the war against the Soviets who made good as leader of the Taliban. As ruler of Afghanistan, he took the title
Leader of the Faithful. The imposition of Pashtunkhwa on the nation institutionalized ignorance and brutality in a country already notable for its own fair share of ignorance and brutality...
's longtime deputy, took over the leadership, but was rejected by parts of the movement which accuse him of covering up Omar's death for his own gains and of being Pakistain's puppet.
But Mansour's faction has shown signs of warming to the idea of joining peace talks at some stage.
A senior Taliban capo said Sirajuddin Haqqani, Mansour's deputy and the head of the feared Haqqani network blamed for a series of suicide kabooms in Kabul, may take part.
The Taliban's main front man, Zabihullah Mujahid, said no formal negotiating team had been appointed, but he stopped short of a full denial of involvement.
By contrast, Mansour's rivals, led by Mullah Mohammad Rasoul, are holding out.
For its part, the Taliban may look for signs of concessions in areas including 2011 UN sanctions that impose asset freezes and travel bans on its leaders.