Taliban Envoy: UN "a pro-US organization", OIC could help bring sides together

[The Bread Guy]

From Taliban's latest statement denying Saudi talks with AFG reps....
http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/80219/post-766198.html#msg766198

.... To another question that whether UN can play any role in solution of the Afghan issue, Abdul Salam Zaeef concluded: “Every one believe that UN has lots its impartiality and it is a pro-US organization. The United Nations even could not condemn cruelties at Guantanamo prison. That is why I believe that instead of UN, the OIC can play an effective role the future of Afghanistan if both the sides agree.” ....

Organisation of the Islamic Conference English page - Wikipedia entry

 

[twistedcables]

This has been the claim of the Taliban since day one, even when they were getting support from the U.S. themselves.  While it is true the U.S. is dominant in large part over the affairs of the U.N. - it's partly because the U.S. owes so much money that the UN cannot afford for the U.S. to be sidelined.

The reason for the Taliban to be favouring the OIC - is because it is dominated by the Taliban's greatest ally and financier: Saudi Arabia, whose greatest ally is....the U.S.

Politics...bedfellows.

 

[mjc_1812]

While I agree that the UN cannot afford to have the US sidelined (note League of Nations), I don't think it's fair to claim that the UN is a US favoured institution. Its reluctance to condemn Guantanamo doesn't stem from a pro-American attitude, but rather from an impotence that is inherent in the institution itself. Since its creation, it has only sanctioned military involvement what... twice I believe (Korea*, Gulf)? The problem with it is that it is made of sovereign states and a couple of these big players have an unconditional veto to shoot down anything they don't like, or conversely anything that their adversary likes.

 

[The Bread Guy]

And, although not a strictly Taliban voice, someone else suggesting Muslim intervention, shared in accordance with the "fair dealing" provisions, Section 29, of the Copyright Act.

Hekmatyar offers peace-deal conditions
Rebel commander says Islamic troops could replace soldiers from the West
Quqnoos.com, 15 Oct 08
Article link

ONE OF the country’s most senior rebel commanders, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, has announced that he is prepared to negotiate a peace-deal with the government.

Hekmatyar said in a statement on Tuesday that his party, Hezb-e-Islami (HIA), was ready to talk to the Afghan government about the possibility of withdrawing foreign troops from the country.

He said he also wanted to talk about forming a national government comprised of all the country’s parties and factions, a sign that the commander of the country’s second largest rebel group would want the Taliban to be included in any future government.

Hekmatyar said the only way out of the current downward spiral of violence was to negotiate.

He said the government should not exclude Hezb-e-Islami and the Taliban as the international community had done during the Bonn Conference.

In recent week, there have been renewed calls for a political solution to the on-going insurgency in Afghanistan, which has claimed thousands of lives since the US-led invasion in 2001.

In late September, some 15 Afghans representing the government and former Taliban officials attended meetings in Saudi Arabia chaired by King Abdullah to discuss the possibility of negotiations between the Afghan government and its enemies.

A peace-deal would see a cessation to all hostilities, Hekmatyar said.

Foreign troops from the West could be replaced with soldiers from Islamic countries, the rebel commander, who is frequently accused of supporting the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, said.

Hekmatyar’s comments are the most positive calls for a peaceful solution to the conflict in seven years.

But the Taliban continue to demand a complete withdrawal of foreign troops from the country before sitting down at the negotiating table.

In April 2002, the US Central Intelligence Agency tried and failed to kill Hekmatyar with an unmanned predator drone.

Four years later, he was wrongly reported as captured before he allegedly took credit for Al-Qaeda leader Osma bin Laden’s escape from Tora Bora during the US-led invasion of 2001.

In 2003, the US government blacklisted HIA a "terrorist" organisation and the UN put its leader’s name on a list of people accused of supporting the Taliban.