NATO's civilian representative wants Taliban violence in Afghanistan to end

BRUSSELS: A senior North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) official said Sunday he wished for the Taliban violence in Afghanistan to end, noting that the local people were appealing for peace but the group chose to ignore the demands.

Speaking to Geo.tv, NATO's Senior Civilian Representative to Afghanistan, Ambassador Sir Nicholas Kay talked about post-election Kabul, the Afghan peace process, and how Pakistan can play a role in bringing stability and prosperity to the region.

Sir Kay, who represents the intergovernmental military alliance's political interest in Afghanistan, said: "Our priority is to help Afghans achieve sustainable peace as soon as possible."

He thinks the suspension of talks between the US and the Taliban in Doha will be temporary. “We would welcome an early resumption of that process,” he said.

The top NATO official said he believes it was best to come to rapid intra-Afghan negotiations where the Taliban, the Kabul government, and locals sit together to come to a political settlement for their country.

Responding to a question about the role of neighbouring nations — especially Iran, because, according to the United States Defence Secretary, Tehran was an important destabilising factor in the region, Sir Kay said all neighbours must work constructively towards a peaceful and stable Afghanistan.

All neighbouring countries should support the efforts being made to reach a negotiated settlement for this conflict, he said, lauding, at the same time, the efforts of Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, the US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation.

"This has been done with the support of the regional countries, including Pakistan,” said Sir Kay. He especially emphasised the important role that Pakistan has, noting that both Kabul and Islamabad were so clearly and closely linked economically, commercially, historically, as well as by the people and by the threats of terrorism to both countries.

The NATO diplomat commended the efforts that all regional countries, including Pakistan, were making to support Afghanistan, stressing that for them to use any influence they can have on the Taliban, stakeholders, friends in the governments and international community to bring about a political arrangement to this conflict.

As for the controversy that surfaced as a result of the elections, the collapse of the Doha talks, and the country's future, Sir Kay said there were active attempts to look at the ways and means to find an opportunity to start peace talks again.

Sir Kay said: “Regarding the elections, we welcome the Afghan people who voted in very difficult circumstances while the Taliban threatened them, trying to disturb them, but at least two million or nearly two million turnout to vote.

“The Afghan security forces that are trained and advised by NATO have also done a very creditable job in helping the logistics and security plans for the elections.”

Emphasising the importance of counting votes carefully and thoroughly so only the valid votes were counted, he said all parties must accept the results — when announced — of the independent election commission.

Regarding his satisfaction with the role of Pakistan and if he wanted Pakistan to do more to bring stability to Afghanistan, Sir Kay said regional players can only do their best to support the efforts of the Afghan government and the Afghan people for a political settlement.

He said it should continue “until we see an end to the Taliban violence and they really should respect the will of the afghan people”.

Sir Kay added at the end of his interview that the Afghans were crying out the peace but the Taliban were ignoring their will. As a NATO representative in Afghanistan, he wants to see the end of the Taliban violence.