6A - Monday, February 4, 2013 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com 6A - Monday, February 4, 2013 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Taliban peace talks flounder as troops exit Paraguayan candidate dies in helicopter crash Mistrust, confusion stalls peace process in Afghanistan KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - The Afghan peace effort is floun- dering, fraught with mistrust and confusion amongkeyplayerseven thoughthe hard-line Talibanmil-. itants showsigns of softening and their reclusive, one-eyed leader made a surprise offer to share power in a post-war Afghanistan. The U.S. and its allies hope the peace process, which began nearly two years ago, will gain traction before most interna- tional forces withdraw from the country in fewer than 23 months. But although the Taliban appear more ready to talk than ever before, peace talks remain elusive because of infighting among a ris- ing number of interlocutors - all trying to get some kind of nego- tiations started. Members of the Taliban are in contact with representatives from 30 to 40 different countries, according to senior U.S., Afghan and other officials The Associat- ed Press interviewed in Afghani- stan and Pakistan. Moreover, the relationship among the key play- ers - the U.S., Afghanistan and Pakistan- is marked by distrust that keeps tugging momentum away from the peace process. Many of the officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the sensi- tive contacts with the Taliban. Finding a path to the negoti- ating table will be a topic when Afghan President Hamid Kar- zai and Pakistan President Asif Zardari hold a series of meetings beginning Monday with British Prime Minister David Cameron. The meetings in London come amid fresh tensions between Kabul and its western allies. Karzai recently warned the West not to use peace talks as a lever against his government. As well, both Kabul and Washing- ton are frustrated that Pakistan is not monitoring the where- abouts and activities of Taliban prisoners it released in recent months. Miffed by the criticism, Pakistan says it freed the prison- ers at the request of the Afghan government and doesn't have the resources to keep tabs on them. No one in either Pakistan or Afghanistan seems to know where the dozens of released prisoners have gone. Last week, the Taliban issued a statement by freed former Taliban Justice Minister Mullah Nooruddin Turabi on behalf of all the prison- ers - an indication that at least some might have rejoined the ranks of the insurgency. "There were no preconditions to their release and we aregetting criticism from our own peoplp inside Afghanistan about that and it is valid criticism," said Ismail Qasemyar, a senior member of the Afghan High Peace Council. The peace council, which Kar- zai set up to carry out peace nego- tiations, handed Pakistan the list of prisoners, including Turabi, that it wanted freed. They have also asked for the release of the Taliban's former second in com- mand, Mullah Abdul Ghani Bara- dar, but Washington has urged Pakistan not to release him, U.S. and Afghan officials said. For its part, the United States has tried to accelerate the peace process by working with Britain, Norway and Germany to reach out to the Taliban, said a senior Western diplomat familiar with the negotiations. Both France and Tokyo have hosted meetings that have been attended by Afghan officials, opposition leaders and the Taliban, although the Taliban insist their participation should not be misinterpreted as negotia- tions. One senior U.S. official said the process is so nascent and egos so fragile that it's like negotiating a minefield. A European diplomat told the AP that there areso many backdoor talks going on that it's hard to keep track of who is talk- ing to whom. This week, Karzai said he wanted an end to all these talks. Speaking at a water management conference in the Afghan capi- tal, Karzai expressed suspicion that the peace process was being hijacked by the West to strength- en his opponents and undermine his government. Karzai's spokesman, Aimal Faizi, told The AP inan interview on the sprawling palace grounds in Kabul that the president was frustrated by what he perceives are attempts by his political oppo- nents and the West, including the United States, to use the peace process-to lay the groundwork for a post-2014 Afghanistan led by those hand-picked bythem. This latest flap between Kar- zai and the West could halt or at least delay the official opening of a Taliban office in the Middle Eastern state of Qatar. The office is intended to give the Taliban an address from which they can conduct peace talks. Faizi said Karzai supports the office "in principle," with some conditions. "This office should be used only as an address for talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban," Faizi said. "This office should not be used for any other purpose." Faizi also said the president wants the Taliban to publicly announce that they will negoti- ate peace only with the Afghan High Peace Council. So far, the Taliban have resisted, although officials close to the president say privately that they appear to be softening their hard-line stance. Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, seemed uncompromis- ing when he spoke to The AP. "There is no change in the policy of the Islamic Emirate of not talking to the Karzai gov- ernment," he said "The Karzai regime is powerless and installed by others. Real parties to the conflict are those who have com- mitted aggression." But still the Taliban have shown signs of moderating their positions in recent months. According to several West- ern officials, who are involved or knowledgeable about the process, the most telling sign of flexibility came in a statement issued late last year by Tali- ban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar. In the statement marking the Islamic holy holiday of Eid al-Adha, Omar for the first time offered to share power. He also said he had no interest in start- ing a civil war. Presidential hopeful's political career ended ASUNCION, Paraguay (AP) - Paraguayan presidential can- didate Lino Cesar Oviedo has been killed in ahelicopter crash, authorities said Sunday, ending a dramatic political career that included coups and repeated attempts to lead this impover- ished 6.5 million-person coun- try. Oviedo was returning with his bodyguard from a politi- cal rally in northern Paraguay Saturday night when his pilot encountered bad weather. All three were killed in the crash, said Johnny Villalba, a spokes- man for Paraguay's airport authority. Defense Minister Maria Liz Garcia said she traveled to the scene Sunday with Oviedo's daughter, congresswoman Fabi- ola Oviedo, and confirmed that the helicopter "disintegrated." "One resident who lives near the accident scene said they heard a single explosion Saturday night," she added. "The aircraft ended up disinte- grated and out of respect to the families of the victims, I won't release details about the cadav- ers." The air traffic control tower in the provincial city of Con- cepcion received the pilot's last communication, Garcia said - a brief message that they were changing course due to a storm at 9 p.m. local time. Lino Oviedo, 69, was running in April's elections as leader of Paraguay's third-largest oppo- sition party, the National Union of Ethical Citizens. A retired general and former army chief, Oviedo had tried for years to take the helm of his nation, and not always through democratic means. As a colonel in 1989, Oviedo had been tasked with taking prisoner none other than Alfre- do Stroessner, the feared dic- tator who had ruled Paraguay since 1954. That bloody military coup sent Stroessner into Brazilian exile, but did little to dimin- ish the hold on Paraguayan politics that his Colorado Party had cemented. Oviedo's role in the ouster was rewarded with a meteoric rise through the ranks of the army. A diminutive cavalry offi- cer, only 5-foot-3 inches (1.62 meters) tall, Oviedo was pro- moted to brigadier general three months after capturing Stroessner. By 1992, he had become a division general, and then President Juan Car- los Wasmosy named him army chief. Membership in the Colorado Party had been a requirement for any officer during the dicta- torship, but Oviedo's constant involvement in party politics generated frictions with the president. In April 1996, a short-lived coup in which Oviedo partici- pated and other maneuverings led to his firing and forced retirement. He ran as a can- didate to succeed Wasmosy, winning the Colorado Party primary ahead of the May 1998 presidential elections, but was then convicted in a military court for his role in the coup, ending his candidacy. His would-be vice presi- dent, Raul Cubas, instead won the election and immediately ordered the release of Oviedo, despite the judiciary's rulings. Oviedo had an irrepressible desire to govern, and quickly became known as the power behind Cubas, angering other political leaders. Cubas' vice president, Luis Maria Argana, was assassinat- ed in 1999, and the slain man's relatives and followers accused Oviedo of being the master- mind. Cubas resigned in the resulting turmoil and Oviedo fled the country and renounced his Colorado Party membership, founding the UNACE party. Facing Paraguayan arrest orders in the Wasmosy case, Oviedo remained a political ref- ugee in Brazil until 2004, when he returned and was convicted. The Supreme Court later exonerated Oviedo after mili- tary officers denied there had been a coup attempt, freeing him to run for president in 2008. He came in third, splitting the vote that gave former Catholic bishop Fernando Lugo the pres- idency and ended 60 years of one-party rule by the Colorado Party. Oviedo was born in the small village of Juan de Mena, out- side Asuncion, on Sept. 23, 1943. He graduated from the nation's military academy, and married Raquel Marin, an Argentine, with whom he had three chil- dren. Oviedo also had other children with two Paraguayan women before his marriage. Oviedo's family now main- tains his legacy in his UNACE party: His children Fabiola and Ariel are deputies in Congress, and his nephew, Lino Cesar Oviedo Sanchez, is a senator. Oviedo "had, an enormous capacity for work. At 5 a.m. he was in his office, receiving people until midnight, usually the poor, who came to him from their villages seeking help," for- mer Sen. Enrique Gonzalez, a longtime political ally, told The Associated Press. "He was an individual with great charisma, he spoke (Par- aguay's indigenous language of) Guarani perfectly, and he wove jokes in Guarani into his speeches. He had the spiritual strength to put up with being persecuted. His military prepa- ration enabled him to put up with extreme situations. In December, he even managed to come out of a Brazilian hospi- tal with two stents after a heart operation with more enthusi- asm than ever." U.S. Undersecretary of State Peter Romero had declared after the Wasmosy affair that Oviedo "lacks democratic credentials." Gonzalez took issue with that label, noting that Oviedo also "founded a political party and participated in elections, build- ing it into Paraguay's third-larg- est political force." The blaze was the deadliest in Brazil since at least 1961; when a fire that swept through a circus. killed 503 people in Niteroi, Rio de Janeiro. 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