Ambassador Dobbins: I think that any improvement in India [and] Pakistan ties will almost automatically improve Afghanistan's situation. I've met twice now in little more than two weeks with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The first time shortly before he became prime minister and then again the day before yesterday. My sense is that an improvement in relations with India is fairly high on his list of priorities. He's got an overwhelming set of problems facing him, most immediately economic pressures...
But on the external front, and I think he understands that internal and external affairs are related, my sense is that improving relations with India seems to be his top priority.
Press: [Regarding] talks with the Taliban, without tackling the issue of terror, do you believe that an improvement in Indo relations with Pakistan [or] Taliban [inaudible]?
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Ambassador Dobbins: We certainly agree that there's no prospect for improvement in relations with the Taliban or any agreement with the Taliban unless the issue of terrorism is directly addressed. We set as a precondition for beginning talks with the Taliban that they make a statement that at least began to distance themselves from international terrorism and they did so. They made a statement a week ago Tuesday in which they said they opposed the use of Afghan territory for attacks on anybody else. But that's I think from our standpoint sufficient to begin talking to them, but it's not going to be sufficient as the basis for any agreement.
We've made clear, Secretary Kerry made clear when he was here that any agreement would need to include a cessation of hostilities, a respect for the Afghan constitution, and a severing of all ties with al-Qaeda and similar terrorist organisations.
I would stress that the negotiations toward this objective will principally be negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban. Not between the United States and the Taliban. But we hope that our dialogue with them, if it begins, can contribute to that and we'll be focused particularly on the topic that you raised which is severing their ties with al-Qaeda. It will be one of the first issues we will raise is how do they intend to do that...
Press: What exactly is the US doing currently to get President Karzai on board with the peace process with the Taliban? [Inaudible] and I understand that President Karzai isn't very happy about that. I was wondering what the US is going to do.
Ambassador Dobbins: Well, President Karzai wasn't happy about it, quite aside from that we weren't happy about it either. There's I think an impression that we intervened with the Qataris only because President Karzai complained. We intervened with the Qataris well before President Karzai complained because the self-presentation of that office was inconsistent with the assurance that the Qataris had given us and that we had given President Karzai.
The government of Qatar responded very quickly. They took down the sign that said Islamic Emirates. They took down the flag. And they issued a public statement that this was not the Office of the Islamic Emirate, this was the political office of the Taliban.
So in terms of the specific things that Karzai was concerned about, I think those issues have been resolved. When I talked to President Karzai on Monday, he was perfectly content to move forward with this if the Taliban are prepared to do so on the basis that we had previously agreed.
Press: Are you going back to Qatar for the talks?
Press: On the talks with the Taliban, you mentioned a statement by them a week ago saying the use of Afghan territory [inaudible]. And yet we saw a couple of days ago an attack on central Kabul targeting the Presidential Palace. How do you manage the process if you see in the coming months the attacks continuing in Afghanistan? What would your intention have to do with that?
Frankly, I anticipate that the Taliban will continue to try to negotiate from a position of strength. They'll continue to mount attacks as will we and as will the Afghan government. The attacks that the Taliban have mounted over the past several months have been fairly severe and they've almost all failed. The Afghan armed forces are now taking the lead in combat operations. We're no longer leading in combat. They are increasingly reliant on their own resources. And they're performing well.
But I don't think that's going to lead to an immediate diminution in violence. I think the Taliban probably want to continue to put pressure on. They want to continue to make it look like the United States is retreating as a result of that pressure rather than as a result of its success in building a viable Afghan capacity for self-defence. And North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, the United States, and in particular the Afghan Security Forces are going to continue not just to defend themselves, but to mount offensive operations against the Taliban, and not only seek to hold territory but to reclaim territory.
So I don't anticipate that the beginning of negotiations will end the war. I do hope that negotiations will ultimately contribute to an end to the war. But that's by no means certain. It's simply something that's worth trying.
Excerpt from an interaction between Ambassador James Dobbins, US Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, and Indian media, in New Delhi on 27 June