Taliban offers unconditional peace talks

By Rupen Savoulian

After many months of refusing even to contemplate talks with the Afghan opposition, the Taliban regime in Kabul has announced that it is will hold unconditional peace talks with the northern alliance, a coalition of anti-Taliban forces that control the northern third of the country.

An alliance commander, General Abdul Malik, is currently holding hundreds of Taliban soldiers prisoner in Mazar-i Sharif, the alliance's stronghold. The Taliban government said that even if Malik did not release the prisoners, it would still enter negotiations.

The Taliban has also stated that it is willing to halt air strikes if the opposition refrains from bombing Kabul. Since General Ahmad Shah Masood's forces scored spectacular victories over the Taliban earlier this year, Kabul has been within striking range of the alliance's airforce.

In a related development, the Taliban government has said it hopes to reach an agreement with an Argentinean energy company, Bridas, to pipe oil and natural gas from Turkmenistan to Pakistan.

The pipeline, with a capacity of 20 billion cubic metres, would run through Taliban-held areas and cost at least $2 billion.

The protracted civil war has until now deterred international investors.

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