Afghan peace council head killed in Kabul (Reuters)

KABUL (Reuters) – A Taliban suicide bomber on Tuesday killed former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani and head of a council tasked with trying to negotiate a political end to the war, in what analysts called a blow to peace efforts.

The killing underscored doubts over the ability of fledgling Afghan security forces to protect even the most prominent politicians as U.S.-led forces ready to pull out by 2014.

"A Taliban member who went to Rabbani's house (in the heavily guarded diplomatic enclave) for peace talks detonated a bomb hidden in his turban," a statement by the Kabul police chief's office said.

President Barack Obama called the killing of Rabbani, head of Afghanistan's High Peace Council, a tragic loss but said work needed to continue to bring elements of Afghan society together to end the years of violence.

A police source said Masoom Stanekzai, a senior adviser to President Hamid Karzai, was badly injured in the attack.

It was the highest profile assassination in Afghanistan since the younger half-brother of President Hamid Karzai, Ahmad Wali Karzai, was killed at his home in July by a highly trusted family security guard.

It also came just a week after a deadly 20-hour siege by militants in the fortified capital, which illustrated the strength of the Taliban after nearly a decade of war.

"The killing of Rabbani is a serious blow against President Karzai and the government's peace and reconciliations efforts. It also underscores the inability of the government to protect even the most prominent Afghan politicians," one diplomat said.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility, saying that the killer had gone to Rabbani's home for talks.

"As soon as Rabbani came three steps forward to hug Mohammad Masoom, he triggered his explosive-filled jacket killing Rabbani, (another) Taliban militant Wahid Yar and four security guards present at the house," he told Reuters.

Commander of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, General John R. Allen, called the killing "another outrageous indicator that, regardless of what Taliban leadership outside the country say, they do not want peace, but rather war."

"WILL NOT DETER US"

President Karzai, at the start of talks with Obama on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, said Rabbani's death "will not deter us" from continuing the quest for peace.

Karzai, meeting Obama for the first time since the U.S. president announced a troop drawdown plan earlier this year, planned to cut short his New York visit to return home.

"It is a tragic loss," Obama said with Karzai at his side. "We both believe that despite this incident, we will not be deterred from creating a path whereby Afghans can live in freedom, safety and security and prosperity."

"It is going to be important to continue the efforts to bring all of the elements in Afghanistan society together to end the senseless cycle of violence," he said.

Rabbani, a former leader of a powerful mujahideen party during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s, was chosen last October by Karzai to head the High Peace Council.

His plan included offering amnesty and jobs to Taliban foot soldiers and asylum in third countries to leaders.

The assassination comes after a series of suicide bombings and other major attacks believed to be the work of the Haqqani network, a Taliban-allied insurgent faction based along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

One analyst said the peace council had not been seen as effective and that Rabbani himself was viewed by many as an impediment to a deal because he was so loathed by the Taliban.

"But, his assassination might mean that the networks Rabbani led or influenced within Afghanistan .... may resist a deal with the Taliban even more," said Caroline Wadhams, a security expert at the Center for American Progress in Washington.

"It could make it that much more difficult to get greater buy-in from key Afghan leaders, who have been deeply skeptical of talks with the Taliban for some time."

Vali Nasr, a former senior official in the State Department's Afghanistan/Pakistan office, said: "The Taliban wants to send a very powerful message that the Karzai government is not in charge."

"That is important because people begin to waver and shift their allegiances ... And it makes it very difficult to say the Taliban is serious about negotiations if they keep killing people they should be negotiating with," Nasr said.

Rabbani served as president in the 1990s when mujahideen factions waged war for control of the country after the Soviet withdrawal.

As a leading figure among Tajiks, the second largest ethnic group in Afghanistan, there were also concerns his death could worsen ethnic tensions.

The assassination comes a week after a 20-hour gun and grenade attack on Kabul's diplomatic enclave by insurgents, and three suicide bomb attacks on other parts of the city -- together the longest-lasting and most wide-ranging assault on the city.

Last week's siege was the third major attack on the Afghan capital since June.

All three of those attacks are believed to be the work of the Haqqani network, a Taliban-allied insurgent faction, based along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

(Additional reporting by Emma Graham-Harrison in Kabul, Laura MacInnis in New York, and Missy Ryan in Washington, Writing by Jonathan Thatcher; Editing by Sugita Katyal)

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US: Pakistan must show it wants Afghan peace (AP)

KABUL, Afghanistan – Washington's special envoy to Afghanistan said Monday that Pakistan must prove it wants an end to the war by preventing militants from hiding out on its soil and enabling those who launch attacks on the Afghan side of the border.

Marc Grossman, U.S. special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, said in Kabul that discussions among Afghanistan, Pakistan and the United States being held this week in the Afghan capital are important to coordinate efforts to find a political resolution to the nearly decade-long war.

He said they also are an opportunity to clearly convey to Pakistani officials that part of their responsibility for bringing peace is to stop supporting insurgent safe havens and those who attack Afghans and international forces in Afghanistan.

"We've been pretty clear that going forward here, we want the government of Pakistan to participate positively in the reconciliation process," Grossman said at a news conference. "Pakistan now has important choices to make."

Grossman and representatives from more than 40 nations are attending a meeting of the International Contact Group. The group's 11th meeting comes after President Barack Obama announced last week he was ordering 10,000 U.S. troops home by year's end; as many as 23,000 more are to leave by September 2012. That would leave 68,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

The 33,000 total to be withdrawn is the number Obama sent as reinforcements in December 2009 as part of an effort to reverse the Taliban's momentum and hasten an eventual political settlement of the conflict. The U.S. and its allies plan a full combat withdrawal by the end of 2014.

Michael Steiner, German representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, said at the news conference that the international community's engagement will not end in 2014, when Afghan security forces are to have the lead responsibility for security across the nation, a process he said is on track.

"I think we have a strategy which is working despite the difficulties we have," Steiner said. "I am not painting here any illusions. We will have problems ahead. But I think we have a realistic strategy."

Separately, the U.N. World Food Program announced Monday it will cut food assistance to more than 3 million Afghans in about half the country's 34 provinces because of a shortage of money from donor nations.

The U.N. agency said it had planned to help feed more than 7 million people in Afghanistan this year, but a shortage of donor funds means only 3.8 million people will be helped through meals provided at schools and training and work programs. It said it needed an additional $220 million to continue its work in Afghanistan at the level originally planned.

The program will focus food assistance on helping the most needy Afghans, especially women and children, said Bradley Guerrant, the agency's deputy country director.

"We are working hard to raise the funds needed to restart these activities as soon as we can," he said.

Also, two roadside bomb blasts killed seven civilians Monday in Ghazni province in eastern Afghanistan, the Interior Ministry said. A vehicle struck one of the bombs in Qarabagh district, killing four civilians, including two children, the ministry said. Another vehicle hit a roadside bomb in Ghazni city, killing three civilians.

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Kadhafi to stay out of Libya peace talks: AU panel (AFP)

PRETORIA (AFP) – African leaders welcomed Sunday Moamer Kadhafi's decision to stay out of negotiations to end Libya's four-month conflict, as battles raged between the regime and rebels near Tripoli.

Multiple rocket and heavy machine gunfire was heard on the plains below the rebel enclave in the Nafusa Mountains, southwest of Tripoli. Rebel commanders said the fighting centered on Bir al-Ghanam, a strategic point on the road to the Libyan capital.

Meanwhile, the African Union panel on Libya said after four hours of talks in the South African capital Pretoria that Kadhafi would not participate in peace talks, in what appeared to be a concession.

The panel "welcomes Colonel Kadhafi's acceptance of not being part of the negotiations process," AU peace and security commissioner Ramtane Lamamra said, reading out the communique without elaborating.

Rumours have been rife in recent days that the Libyan leader may consider leaving Tripoli and that rebels could accept his internal exile to a remote location.

But Kadhafi's government spokesman said Sunday he has no intention of leaving power or Libya.

"Kadhafi is here. He is staying. He is leading the country. He will not leave. He will not step down because he does not have any official position," Mussa Ibrahim said.

"We will not give in to some criminal gangs who took our cities hostage. We will not give in to the criminal organisation of NATO. Every one continues to fight. We are ready to fight street to street, house to house," he added.

Abdel Hafiz Ghoga, vice chairman of the National Transitional Council (NTC), said on Saturday intermediaries had indicated that a proposal from Kadhafi was in the works, offering a faint glimmer of hope for a deal to end the bloodshed.

"We expect to get an offer very soon; he is unable to breathe," said Ghoga.

"We want to preserve life, so we want to end the war as soon as possible," he added. "We have always left him some room for an exit."

It was not immediately clear if the AU announcement was the awaited offer. The rest of the AU panel's communique reiterated the group's call for an immediate ceasefire and negotiations toward a democratic solution.

The communique was far softer than South African President Jacob Zuma's opening remarks, when he again warned NATO against overstepping the mandate of the UN resolution imposing a no-fly zone over Libya.

"The intention was not to authorise a campaign for regime change or political assassination," he said behind closed doors, according to a text of the speech.

Zuma urged both Kadhafi and the rebel NTC to make compromises to reach a deal in the face of a conflict that was degenerating into a protracted and bloody deadlock.

"On the ground, there is a military stalemate which cannot and must not be allowed to drag on and on -- both because of its horrendous cost in civilian lives and the potential it has to destabilise the entire sub-region," he said.

The AU has been leading mediation efforts in Libya with the blessing of other key players including Russia.

Kadhafi is a long-time backer of the AU and a forceful advocate for stronger continental integration. He held the pan-African body's rotating chair in 2009 and has twice held talks with members of the panel.

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