Political
The general situation in Afghanistan remains unstable. The usually strained relationship with Pakistan has seen a temporary relaxation thanks to the joint peace jirga which was held in Kabul from 9-12 August. The peace jirga - an initiative built on a traditional Afghan conflict resolution mechanism - brought together around 650 participants from the Pashtun community living along the Afghan-Pakistani border. The Pakistani and Afghan delegations were comprised of government officials, retired bureaucrats, tribal elders and politicians. However, important actors from the Pashtun community, such as tribal elders from Pakistan's Waziristan area and pro-Taliban leaders of Pakistan's religious parties (e.g. the JUI-F) boycotted the event. Moreover, the Taliban and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's Hezb-e-Islami were not invited. Nevertheless, Afghan and Pakistani officials described the peace jirga as a success. President Musharraf - who failed to attend the opening session of the jirga - in his closing speech on 12 August, made an unexpected turn-around by admitting that Afghan militants received support from Pakistani soil. Musharraf's acknowledgement of Pakistan's role in the conflict in Afghanistan paved the way for the adoption of the final resolution of the peace jirga. The peace jirga declaration, among others, provides for the establishment of a small jirga made up of 25 participants from each country, mandated to hold a peace dialogue with the opposition (e.g. the Taliban). Following the peace jirga, Hamid Karzai renewed his offer for talks to the Taliban on 9 September. While the Taliban initially responded positively, a Taliban spokesman later made talks conditional upon a withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan.
The idea of seeking a negotiated settlement with the Taliban appears to have gained ground in Afghanistan and now even seems to be backed by the US, which could be explained by a possible military attack of the US in Iran. If the weakened President Karzai intends to win the presidential elections in 2009 he might indeed require Pashtun and Taliban backing to outweigh the growing opposition from former factional leaders of the Northern Alliance. However, some regional powers like Iran, India, Russia and China - and Central Asian states - would not be pleased to see the Taliban back in power, and, coupled with that, increased Pakistani influence in Afghanistan's internal affairs. Iran, however, might seek some rapprochement with its former enemy, the Taliban, in light of the current US threats. Despite an anti-Iranian campaign by the US that includes allegations of Iranian involvement in the insurgency in Afhanistan (through the supply of Iranian and Chinese weapons, etc.) the Karzai administration continuously stresses its good relations with Iran. Iranian President Ahmadinejad visited Kabul for the first time in the middle of August. At the end of his visit, the two governments signed various agreements to strengthen mutual cooperation. Apart from its Western allies, Afghanistan also sought to strengthen its ties with regional partners and organisations. On 15 August, President Karzai appeared as a special guest at the meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Kyrgyzstan. The SCO groups China, Russia and the four Central Asian States Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan; Iran, India, Pakistan and Mongolia have observer status in the organization.
As a positive step in the fight against corruption, the Attorney General Abdul Jabbar Sabbit has ordered the arrest of a senior official in the Interior Ministry, Sakhi Ahmad Bayani, director of administrative affairs, on charges of embezzlement on 15 August; the Interior Ministry is particularly notorious for its corrupt leadership.