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(ANALYSIS) Warring Afghan factions take uncertain first step to peaceSat 18 Apr 98 - 01:25 GMT KABUL, April 18 (AFP) - A commitment by the warring Afghan factions to a ceasefire and negotiations has given a much needed boost to UN peace efforts here but offers no certainty of an end to the bitter 18-year civil war. "Afghanistan has been deeply entrenched in war for a long time and it will take much more than a flying visit to end it," a UN peace mission official said after US envoy Bill Richardson brokered the agreement in a whirlwind visit Friday. Front-line peace workers see no quick-fix solutions to the bitter conflict and hesitate to describe the high-level visit as a turning point. But by securing a 10-day ceasefire and an agreement to face-to-face talks, Richardson at least gave the beleaguered UN peace effort a much needed kick start. "What the UN had been lacking in the past is a heavyweight backer, and although ambassador Richardson's visit was brief, we believe it has sent a clear message of superpower backing to the process," the UN official said. Richardson, who holds cabinet status in the US government as Washington's ambassador to the United Nations, is the most senior western official to visit Afghanistan since the Soviet invasion of 1979. His visit also represents an apparent boost in US interest here. Richardson said the primary purpose of his visit was to revitalise the peace process, and acknowledged long-term success needed more than a talks breakthrough. "It depends on deeds and not just words, but we made progress here today and most importantly we have a process started that could lead to talks under UN auspices," Richardson said. Afghanistan's hardline Taliban militia, the first faction to meet Richardson and agree to the US proposal of a ceasefire and talks by April 27, also urged caution. "This (the agreement) is very important, but there is no specific talks proposal for the meeting in Islamabad," senior Taliban spokesman Wakil Ahmad Mutawakil told AFP. By late Friday the vocabulary had shifted from "face-to-face talks" to a meeting of a "steering committee" and a "contact group" of faction representatives of unspecified rank and standing. But observers noted that the Taliban, who for the past year have suffered heavy losses in their efforts to capture northern Afghanistan, did show a major change in their usually determined military rhetoric. "From now until we reach an agreement on a ceasefire there should be no big or major offensives," Mutawakil said, hinting for the first time that the militia would accept a long-term peace deal. In northern Afghanistan, opposition alliance leaders gave their backing to the agreement and a first meeting in Pakistan even though they accuse Islamabad of backing the Taliban. This is not the first ceasefire agreed to by the Taliban and their northern rivals. A truce last year to aid a nationwide polio vaccination campaign broke down within hours. But after another year of heavy fighting, huge loss of life and frustrated attempts by the Taliban to extend their control beyond two-thirds of the country, officials hope the mood for peace is there. The agreement to meet on April 27 is the first time the puritanical Moslem Taliban and their northern opponents -- which include the ousted Kabul government, warlord Abdul Rashid Dostam and a Shiite Moslem faction -- will meet under UN auspices. "Thanks to the US at last the factions have been given a firm nudge in the direction of the UN peace process," a UN official here said. "We just have to see if this ready acceptance is a breathing space from fighting or a sincere desire for peace. Only time will tell." |