June 2011

, Washington approved the visit of a Taliban delegation to the Texas headquarters of Unical, the big oil company, to discuss the construction of a trans-Afghan gas pipeline. The Taliban emerged in the south of Afghanistan as recently as late 1994. It was in reaction to the chaos that followed the retreat of the invading Soviet army when for five years the mujahideen – who were made up of many separate elements – vied for supremacy, killing over a hundred thousand in the process. The Taliban had three main aims- the stop the violence, to stabilize the country, to restore the practice of Islamic law, albeit at the less tolerant end of the spectrum, and to wipe out the trade in opium. They had no trouble in welcoming both domestic and foreign NGOs. But the Taliban’s leader, Mullah Omar, made a dreadful mistake- he gave sanctuary to bin Laden when he fled Sudan....

In last Sunday’s general election Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Islamic, centrist, Justice and Development Party won a substantial victory at the polls, returning it to office for the third consecutive time, making his the strongest presidency since Attaturk. The Kurds who live mainly in the south east, although there are substantial numbers both in Istanbul and Ankara, voted in large numbers for the Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party- giving them nearly 6% of the vote and 35 seats in parliament. This was also a substantial achievement, even though the urban Kurds, as always, voted in large numbers for the mainstream parties. The Kurds have had a chequered history in modern Turkey. First, they tried passive protests against their inferior position and the draconian rule of Ankara which didn’t allow them cultural freedoms- the right to have their own Kurdish language, media or to teach Kurdish in schools....