Karzai to Name Panel for Peace Talks   09/04 09:49

   President Hamid Karzai said Saturday he will name the members of a council 
next week to pursue peace talks with insurgents willing to renounce violence, 
honor the Afghan constitution, and sever ties with terrorist networks.

   KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- President Hamid Karzai said Saturday he will name 
the members of a council next week to pursue peace talks with insurgents 
willing to renounce violence, honor the Afghan constitution, and sever ties 
with terrorist networks.

   The announcement came amid a further round of insurgent violence, with seven 
people, including four policemen, killed by a suicide bomber perched on the 
back of a motorcycle in the increasingly violent northern province of Kunduz.

   At least three people were also killed and 11 wounded in a suicide car bomb 
attack on a U.S. Army convoy in the insurgent hotbed of Kandahar, according to 
local hospitals. NATO said there were no injuries to coalition forces or damage 
to their vehicles.

   A statement issued by Karzai's office called the formation of the High Peace 
Council a "significant step toward peace talks."

   It said the members will include former Taliban, jihadi leaders, leading 
figures in Afghan society and women.

   The establishment of such a panel was approved in June at a national peace 
conference in Kabul, a move welcomed by foreign governments working to 
stabilize the Afghan government and economy. Although the Taliban leadership 
has shown no appetite for talks, Karzai hopes the reconciliation process will 
help split the movement between its hardcore members and those less committed 
to its strict Islamic ideology.

   The midday attack in Kunduz's provincial capital, also called Kunduz, left 
another 16 people injured, provincial spokesman Mahbubullah Sayedi said.

   The city is a major transportation hub and lies along a crucial supply line 
for coalition forces that has been repeatedly attacked by Taliban insurgents, 
who have also stepped up attacks on police and civilians in the province in an 
apparent attempt to destabilize local authorities and spread their insurgency 
beyond their strongholds in the country's south.

   Pictures from the scene of Saturday's bombing showed officers loading the 
back of a police pickup truck with bodies of the victims, including a boy who 
appeared to be in his early teens. The body of the suicide bomber lay beside 
the mangled wreckage of his motorcycle, while windows in nearby shops and cars 
were shattered by the blast.

   While there was no immediate sign of a connection, the bombing came on the 
first anniversary of a NATO warplane attack on two fuel trucks just outside 
Kunduz city that killed as many as 142 people, the single largest loss of 
civilian lives since the 2001 U.S. invasion of the country. Afghan officials 
repeatedly warn that such incidents undermine the central government in Kabul 
and fuel support for its Taliban opponents.

   Also Saturday, NATO announced the capture of a Taliban commander and the 
killing of six insurgents in a raid on a rebel hide-out in the northern 
province of Takhar.

   The attack followed a string of recent raids on militant leaders that aim to 
demoralize the insurgency and sever contacts between rebel groups.

   NATO said a joint Afghan-NATO force was fired on as it approached a compound 
Friday where the Taliban commander was hiding. The force returned fire with the 
backing of coalition aircraft, then evacuated the compound and detained the 
commander and one of his assistants, it said.

   Takhar, which neighbors Kunduz to the east, had been relatively quiet amid 
rising violence across Afghanistan, but recent incidents point to growing 
insurgent activity in the province, about 150 miles (250 kilometers) north of 
Kabul along the border with Tajikistan.

   NATO says an airstrike in the province on Thursday killed about a dozen 
insurgents, but President Hamid Karzai and other Afghans said the victims were 
campaign workers seeking votes ahead of this month's parliamentary elections.

   Farther south in Kandahar province, where much of the current fighting is 
focused, a Taliban commander in the provincial capital and six associates were 
detained in a raid Thursday, NATO said. Other Taliban leaders in rural Kandahar 
and the southern provinces of Paktiya and Helmand were also captured, it said.

   Separately, Helmand's provincial government reported at least 12 insurgents 
were killed in fighting and air raids in the province on Thursday.

   NATO has been intensifying its efforts with the addition of 30,000 more U.S. 
troops along with additional special forces soldiers who conduct most of the 
targeted raids alongside the Afghan army and police.

   Some 140,000 foreign troops are now in the country, tasked both with driving 
the Taliban from areas it has held sway in for years, and ensuring security for 
the Sept. 18 elections that many hope will help set Afghanistan on a path to 
greater political stability.

   So far, the election campaign has been disrupted by periodic but not 
paralyzing violence, with at least three candidates and five campaign workers 
killed in attacks. Along with the Taliban, rival candidates are also believed 
to be involved in some of the violence and intimidation.

   On Friday, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates toured U.S. bases and met 
with troops in Kandahar, saying he saw and heard evidence that the 
counterinsurgency strategy is taking hold in the Taliban's spiritual heartland.

   Such progress is crucial ahead of a U.S. assessment of Afghanistan strategy 
in December that could determine the direction of future efforts. President 
Barack Obama has pledged to begin pulling out at least some troops starting 
next July.

   Meanwhile, nervous Afghans on Saturday continued pulling funds out of the 
nation's largest bank despite assurances from government leaders that their 
money was safe.

   Crowds gathered at Kabul Bank branches around the capital to withdraw dollar 
and Afghan currency savings, with customers saying they had lost faith in the 
bank's solvency following a change in leadership and reports that tens of 
millions of dollars had been lent to political elites for risky real estate 
investments.

   While there was little apparent sign of panic, the deputy commander of the 
international coalition in Afghanistan said contingency plans were being drawn 
up in case of unrest sparked by a run on the bank.

   "We're prepared to deal with the unexpected," Lt. Gen. Sir Nick Parker said.


(KA)