Aid agencies told to talk to Taliban as attacks decrease
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KABUL — Political leaders are divided about talking to the Taliban to bring peace to Afghanistan yet engagement with militants is seen as a necessity for aid agencies trying to improve life in the war-torn country.
Local and foreign charities say they often have no option but to seek the consent of militant fighters to carry out their work, as the violent insurgency rages against foreign forces.
There are now calls for that contact to be stepped up, amid signs of a shift in attitudes towards aid agencies’ presence in Afghanistan and hints at a role for some insurgents in the country’s political future.
The Afghanistan Non-Governmental Organisation Safety Office (ANSO), an advisory body for aid agencies, has said the Taliban look “certain to play a permanent, and increasingly political, role” in the coming years.
“We recommend that NGOs start developing strategies for engaging with them rather than avoiding them,” director Nic Lee wrote in the group’s recent quarterly report..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101123com6.html
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