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KABUL, Afghanistan – An assassin armed with a silenced pistol shot dead a top member ofthe Afghan peace council Sunday at a traffic intersection in thenation's capital, police said. The killing strikes another blow toefforts to negotiate a political resolution to the decade-long war. Arsala Rahmani was a former Taliban official who reconciled withthe government and was active in trying to set up formal talks withthe insurgents. He was shot at an intersection in western Kabul by a gunman in awhite Toyota Corolla while being driven to his office, saidMohammad Zahir, head of the city police's criminal investigationdivision. He did not have a bodyguard with him at the time. "Only one shot was fired," Zahir said. "Our initial reports arethat it was a pistol with a silencer. Rahmani died on the way tothe hospital." Zahir said an investigation was under way. The Taliban denied responsibility for the killing, although theyhad earlier indicated that they would target peace negotiators. Rahmani was one of about 70 influential Afghans and former Talibanappointed by President Hamid Karzai to try to convince insurgentleaders to reconcile with the government. The U.S. has backed the council's efforts to pull the Taliban intopolitical discussions with Kabul as part of its strategy forreducing violence and turning over responsibility to Afghan forcesso international combat troops can go home or move into supportroles by the end of 2014. But this effort suffered a major setback in September 2011 whenformer Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani, who was head of thepeace council, was assassinated by a suicide bomber posing as apeace emissary from the Taliban. The U.S. has its own contacts with the Taliban, but in March themilitant organization said they were suspending contacts with theUnited States over what they said was a lack of progress inreleasing Taliban prisoners from U.S. detention in Guantanamo. The last substantive discussions between U.S. officials and Talibanrepresentatives were in January, and both initiatives to buildtrust and move toward real peace talks are in limbo. A year ago, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said theUnited States was launching a "diplomatic surge to move thisconflict toward a political outcome." The alternative to a political resolution is a protracted conflictthat neither the war-weary Afghans, Americans or Europeans want orcan afford. On Twitter, the U.S. Embassy in Kabul called the assassination ofanother peace council member "a tragedy." NATO praised Rahmani for "turning his back" on the insurgentmovement and said his contributions will be missed. "The only possible aim of this attack is to intimidate those, wholike Rahmani, want to help make Afghanistan a better place for itscitizens and the region," the coalition said in a statement. Afghan Foreign Ministry spokesman Janan Mosazai said work towardreconciliation with the Taliban would continue despite Rahmani'skilling. "No one but the sworn enemies of peace in Afghanistan and theregion would commit such a heinous act," he said in a statement. Rahmani, who was in his 70s, served as deputy minister of highereducation during the Taliban regime, which ruled Afghanistan forfive years and sheltered al-Qaida before being driven out of powerin the U.S.-led invasion in late 2001. He reconciled with thegovernment established in Kabul after the Taliban's fall andsubsequently served in parliament. Rahmani was one of several former members of the Taliban who wereremoved from a U.N. blacklist in July 2011. The decision by a U.N.committee eliminated a travel ban and an assets freeze againstRahmani and the others — a move seen as key to promoting thepeace effort. Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said in a statement that hisgroup had nothing to do with Rahmani's assassination. When they announced the start of their annual "spring offensive"earlier this month, the Taliban said that members of the peacecouncil — who they view as government collaborators —would be among their primary targets. The offensive, which comes every year as the weather warms,normally leads to an increase in attacks as the insurgents seek tointimidate the government and retake territory lost over thewinter. Publicly, the leadership of the Taliban has said that it will nottalk to the Afghan government, which it calls a puppet regime ofthe U.S. and its international partners. Privately, however, somerepresentatives of the Taliban who are open to negotiating asettlement have met with U.S., Afghan and other internationalofficials. Rahmani, along with other members of the peace council, was tryingto forge relations with those Taliban amenable to peace talks. ___ Associated Press writer Deb Riechmann in Kabul contributed to thisreport. I am an expert from promotional-waterbottles.com, while we provides the quality product, such as Cosmetic Packaging Bottles , Small Plastic Cosmetic Containers Manufacturer, Cosmetic Packaging Bottles,and more.
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