[Pak Daily Times] Scribbled notes from Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar have surfaced in mosques all over Afghanistan's ethnic Pashtun heartland, threatening death to anyone who takes up a government offer to negotiate for peace, according to a longtime Taliban member.
Trying to quash rumors of a break in their ranks, the Taliban also have vehemently denied reports, including one that representatives of the terrorist group were involved in negotiations with the Afghan government.
The leadership could be worried that commanders might strike separate deals that would threaten to undermine the insurgency and cripple the morale of their rank-and-file fighters. President Hamid Karzai has made reconciliation a top priority and recently formed a 70 member High Peace Council to find a political solution to the insurgency. At the same time, the US-led coalition has ramped up its military campaign in an effort to pound Taliban commanders to the negotiating table.
There are no signs that either strategy is having much effect on the senior Taliban leadership. A veteran Taliban member who recently visited the powerful shura - or council -- in Quetta
That's the one the Paks can't find, that they say doesn't exist...
and controlled by Mullah Omar said there was no talk of negotiation among those who control the insurgency.
"None of the big Taliban is talking," the Taliban member said on condition of anonymity. |