NATO chief favours negotiations with Taliban
August 1st, 2009 - 3:54 pm ICT by IANS
Copenhagen, Aug 1 (DPA) The new head of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) spoke out in favour of negotiations with the radical Islamist Taliban in Afghanistan, Danish media reported Saturday.
In an interview published in the Danish newspaper Politiken, Anders Fogh Rasmussen said that there were groups within the Taliban with whom it was possible to speak and create reconciliation in Afghanistan.
He added however that it was also clear that there was a hard core within the Taliban that only respected military force and with whom there was no possibility of agreement.
The former Danish prime minister backed calls by — among others — British Foreign Minister David Miliband, who demanded direct talks with certain Taliban groups in Afghanistan following the NATO’s summer offensive.
Rasmussen also said in the interview that another objective was the agreement between NATO and the European Union (EU) on cooperation between the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan and EU-led police contingent there.
Rasmussen officially replaces the Netherlands’ Jaap de Hoop Scheffer as NATO secretary general Saturday, with Monday being his first day on the job in Brussels.
- NATO chief dismisses talk of intervention in Syria - Nov 05, 2011
- NATO calls on Pakistan to open border for supplies - Oct 05, 2010
- NATO asks Pakistan to open transit routes - Apr 20, 2012
- Pakistan Army refuses to accept NATO's regret - Nov 28, 2011
- NATO to continue military pressure on Haqqani network - Nov 03, 2011
- Violence not affecting Afghan transition: NATO chief - Feb 29, 2012
- NATO seeks stronger relations with India - Nov 23, 2010
- What does the future hold for NATO's new chairman? - Jul 31, 2009
- Zardari to attend NATO summit in Chicago - May 18, 2012
- Rasmussen will be new NATO chief - Apr 04, 2009
- NATO for phased transfer of security responsibility to Afghans by 2014 - Nov 21, 2010
- NATO on course for planned Afghan withdrawal: Merkel - May 05, 2012
- 'NATO combat operations in Afghanistan to last till 2014' - Feb 03, 2012
- NATO denies offering missile cooperation to India - Sep 30, 2011
- Leaders fail to agree on new NATO chief - Apr 04, 2009
Tags: anders fogh rasmussen, atlantic treaty organisation, contingent, copenhagen, danish prime minister, david miliband, de hoop scheffer, favour, foreign minister, hard core, international security assistance, jaap de hoop, jaap de hoop scheffer, military force, minister david, nato secretary general, north atlantic treaty organisation, reconciliation, taliban, taliban in afghanistan