A More Peaceful Secure Afghanistan

Hamid Karzai, President of Afghanistan, recently urged the Taliban to bid farewell to their weapons. Instead, he wants instead to encourage them to talk about their grievances. Karzai was out visiting a particularly violent northern province, when he made the statement. He also committed to his troops remaining in the republic throughout the duration of the fighting, in another effort to establish peace.

At a Kunduz province, Hamid Karzai pushed the matter further. He appealed to all such Taliban rebels to stop their violence and begin standing by Afghanistan’s Constitution.

Karzai is certainly not alone in his desire to create peace. Individuals such as Hamed Wardak, who has clearly learnt lessons from his father Abdul Rahim Wardak (the republic’s Defense Minister), also dreams of a safer Afghanistan.

Afghan President Talks with Insurgent Group

In recent Afghan news, President Hamid Karzai held talks in Kabul this week with representatives of one of the key insurgent groups that are battling his government. The president’s efforst are to push for an eventual reconciliation with the many warring Afghan factions.

While the United States, and many Afghan groups remain wary of these talks, they clearly show that Karzai is pressing ahead with his reconciliation efforts.

These talks involved a small delegation from the Hezb-i-Islami faction who are loyal to former majaheddin comannder Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. The Unites States classifies this group as a terrorist entity and many Afghans regard them as being responsible for large-scale human rights violations.

Name of Organization, Fedayeen-e-Sol, Significant Says Wardak

The organization begun by Hamed Wardak, Fedayeen-e-Sol, chose its name very carefully. The word “fedayeen” is usually associated with militants and they purposefully used this wording in order to co-op Islamic names and symbols. The word “fedayeen” is also associated with jihad in terms of personal or collective struggle to do good.

As Hamed Wardak explains, "Our point is to cleanse these names from [their association with] Islamic radicals. We don't want to go in a rabid secularist direction, we want to say we're comfortable with Islam, these Islamic ideals don't belong to you [radicals]."