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The Taliban are not our enemy, says Biden as U.S. prepares to negotiate prisoner transfer deal

• Vice-president said the Islamist group only represents a threat if it allows Al-Qaeda to strike at the U.S.
• U.S. prepares to negotiate a peace deal with the Taliban
  

By Graham Smith

Last updated at 3:02 PM on 20th December 2011

The Taliban are not an enemy of the U.S. and should not be talked about in such terms,Joe Biden has claimed.

The vice-president said the militant Islamist group only represents an inherent threat if it allows Al-Qaeda to strike at the U.S.

In an interview with Newsweek, Mr Biden warned against labelling the Taliban as an enemy.

Language of peace? Joe Biden said the Taliban only represents an inherent threat if it allows Al-Qaeda to strike at the U.S.

He said: 'That's critical. There is not a single statement that the president has ever made in any of our policy assertions that the Taliban is our enemy because it threatens U.S. interests.'

Mr Biden's comments come as senior U.S. officials prepare to negotiate a peace deal with Taliban militants.

Even after a surge in U.S. troops in Afghanistan has pushed the Taliban out of much of their southern stronghold, the group's intentions regarding peace talks remain unclear.

A senior Taliban commander, speaking after U.S. officials' description of the peace process was published on Sunday, denied the group is engaged in negotiations.

'Our position on talks remains the same. All occupying forces have to leave Afghanistan. Then we can talk,' the commander told Reuters.

It is thought that the Taliban might deny taking part in initial discussions to shore up morale among fighters on the ground.

But the news of possible peace talks with the Taliban has been met with some resistance, illustrating the political risk the Obama administration is taking by considering a prisoner transfer.

Down with arms? U.S. officials are preparing to negotiate a peace deal with Taliban militants

Government officials claim a transfer of Taliban prisoners from the Guantanamo Bay military prison into Afghan government custody could be one confidence-building measure critical to making progress towards a peace deal between the Taliban and the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

But a key Republican senator yesterday warned against negotiations with the Taliban.

Senator Saxby Chambliss, senior Republican on the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee, said: 'It sounds as if the administration has decided to negotiate with terrorists, something the United States does not do.

'Handing over detainees, who likely continue to pose a threat to the United States, should not be the first step in building confidence.'

Officials are not optimistic about their chances of clinching a deal, but they hope the transfer of five Taliban detainees and other possible confidence-building measures, including a Taliban denunciation of terrorism, might lead to authentic Afghan-Taliban talks on the war-torn country's political future.

'It sounds as if the administration has decided to negotiate with terrorists, something the United States does not do'

Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss

White House efforts to strike a deal with a repressive Islamist movement that has been killing U.S. soldiers for a decade - even if it is now widely accepted the war cannot be won on the battlefield alone - could become a liability for Mr Obama in an election year.

Mr Chambliss said: 'Any discussion of prisoner transfers should only be done after an agreement to cease hostilities has been reached.

'It should be done in the open, with thorough oversight from Congress and visibility for the American people about exactly who these detainees are and what terrorist acts they committed.'

Officials said the possible transfer of detainees would be a 'national decision' made in consultation with Congress in accordance with new rules for handling detainees.

Mr Obama is expected to shortly sign into law the 2011 defence authorisation bill, which includes provisions that would broaden the military's involvement in detaining suspected militants and require the Pentagon to certify in most cases certain security conditions will be met before prisoners can be sent home.

But the White House has stressed that any real negotiations must take place directly between the Karzai government and the Taliban, with U.S. diplomats only playing a facilitating role.

Yet it is clear that in Washington, there is a growing willingness to engage directly with the Taliban as foreign troops edge closer towards the exit in Afghanistan.

Mr Obama has promised to withdraw his 33,000 surge troops by next autumn, and most foreign combat troops are expected to be gone by the end of 2014, leaving Afghan forces in the lead.

A modest U.S. troop presence is expected to stay beyond that, focused on counter-terrorism and training local forces.

Separating the Taliban from Al Quaeda is impossible because of their shared view of Islam.