Peace council member slain in street

An ASSASSIN armed with a silenced pistol shot dead a top member of the Afghan peace council yesterday at a traffic intersection in the nation’s capital.

The killing strikes another blow to efforts to negotiate a political resolution to the decade-long war. Arsala Rahmani was a former Taleban official who reconciled with the government and was active in trying to set up formal talks with the insurgents. His assassination follows that of the council’s head last year.

He was shot at an intersection in western Kabul by a gunman in a white Toyota Corolla while being driven to his office, said Mohammad Zahir, head of the city police’s criminal investigation division. He did not have a bodyguard with him at the time.

“Only one shot was fired,” Mr Zahir said. “Our initial reports are that it was a pistol with a silencer. Rahmani died on the way to the hospital.”

The Taleban has denied responsibility for the killing.

Mr Rahmani was one of about 70 influential Afghans and former Taleban appointed by president Hamid Karzai to the council to try to convince insurgent leaders to reconcile with the government.

The Taleban has refused to have direct contact with the council, which it considers to be an organ of Mr Karzai’s government.

Privately, however, some representatives of the Taleban who are open to negotiating a settlement have met with Afghan and international officials. Mr Rahmani, along with other members of the peace council, was trying to forge relations with those Taleban amenable to peace talks.

The West has backed the council’s efforts to pull the Taleban into political discussions with Kabul as part of its strategy for reducing violence and turning over responsibility to Afghan forces.

But this effort suffered a major setback in September 2011 when former Afghan president Burhanuddin Rabbani, who was head of the peace council, was assassinated by a suicide bomber posing as a peace emissary from the Taleban. Kabul blames Pakistan-based leaders of the Taleban for his killing.

Afghan foreign ministry spokesman Janan Mosazai said work toward reconciliation with the Taleban would continue despite the assassination.

“No one but the sworn enemies of peace in Afghanistan and the region would commit such a heinous act,” he said.

Pakistan, which has in the past has been accused of not doing enough to help the peace process, condemned the killing and said it was “committed to work closely with Afghanistan” against terrorism.

Pakistan is home to most of the Taleban leadership as well as the Haqqani network, which carries out major attacks in Afghanistan. Islamabad believes it should have a say in any talks involving its neighbour, which it fears will develop an alliance with its arch-rival, India.

Mr Rahmani, who was in his 70s, served as deputy minister of higher education during the Taleban regime. He reconciled with the government established in Kabul after the Taleban’s fall.