Source:
The NationalOne could be forgiven for thinking the man required to end the Taliban insurgency, take on corruption and defeat the drug traffickers would be a moustachioed hard man with a bandolier of bullets slung over his shoulder.
But the newly appointed Afghan interior minister, Haneef Atmar, is a slim and elegant man, fluent in four languages, who rarely raises his voice.
This week Mr Atmar, who is well regarded by the West as a capable technocrat with a clean record on corruption, emerged as a key figure in the London conference on Afghanistan... Mr Atmar, 41, said the government was willing to make peace with Mullah Omar, the one-eyed fugitive leader of the Taliban who is believed to be hiding in Pakistan, but it will be up to the grand council to decide.
“If the Afghan people are ready to forgive people like Mullah Omar, and obviously it is their choice, then we as a government will have to accept that fact.”
He was dismissive of reports that the Taliban have already rejected reconciliation through statements published on the internet...
Read more:
http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100130/WEEKENDER/701299829
Afghan interior minister is off-script... the thought of playing footsy with the Taliban and Mullah Omar makes me want to :puke:
And in related news: New shades of black highlight the Burqa's comeback during Kabul fashion week!
Remind me again why we are still fighting there?!?