Amid some scenes of unrest, Afghanistan's former President Burhannudin Rabbani was buried on a hill overlooking the capital on Friday, as thousands paid their last respects to the 71-year-old peace envoy. President Hamid Karzai and other high-ranking Afghan officials, as well as delegations from Arab and Middle Eastern countries, attended the state funeral at the presidential palace.

Most of Kabul's city center was locked down for the funeral and security was tight, with thousands of extra police officers deployed. Some angry supporters of Rabbani threw stones at the vehicles of government officials and chanted "Death to America, death to Pakistan," but were quickly dispersed when police fired warning shots into the air. Mohammad Zahir, the head of the Kabul police Crime Investigation Unit told Reuters, that there was no threat and the situation was under control.

Karzai pledges to continue peace efforts

Rabbani, the head of Karzai's High Peace Council, was assassinated on Tuesday evening at his home by a suicide bomber who claimed to have an important message of peace from the Taliban, but had explosives concealed beneath his turban.

Karzai said that the assassination would not derail efforts to make contact with the insurgents and that these would continue until "peace and stability had been reached."

He was reiterating the comments of Afghan Vice President Qasim Fahim who said on Thursday that the fight for peace in Afghanistan would go on regardless. However, like Karzai, he was unable to give clear indications of how: "The paths we will choose are at the discretion of the Afghan government," he said.

Hamid Karzai set up the High Peace Council a year ago and gave Rabbani and 70 council members the task of drawing up a peace agreement with the Taliban. But the Taliban leaders persistently refused to enter talks with the Afghan government. After the assassination, with its clear message against peace, many observers wonder if it makes sense to continue with the efforts to draw up an agreement. However, council member Mohammed Ismael Qasimyar says Rabbani's death should not be a reason for giving up: "We have to continue fighting for a just and stable peace." His opinion is that many Taliban are sick of fighting and would be willing to enter peace negotiations but the problem is that there are different factions.

'So much distrust'

It is still unclear who is behind Rabbani's assassination. A Taliban press release said only that the incident was under examination. For some politicians, this hesitation is also a sign that the insurgents are contemplating putting down their arms. Not for Afghan Education Minister Faruq Wardak however, who says that the assassination poses a problem for the peace process. "There is so much distrust at the moment. We do not know who is a friend or an enemy anymore - whom to make peace with or not."

And this is the crux of the matter - the government does not know what to do. Karzai knows he has no alternative because his weak government simply cannot beat the Taliban by force of arms. He knows he has to talk to the Taliban but he does not know how and Rabbani's assassination will not facilitate his task. Afghanistan expert Ahmad Saedi says the government has to be clear. For him, the only solution for Kabul and for NATO troops - due to withdraw in 2014 - is to fight the Taliban unless they want to give up all that has been achieved over the past decade. "You can only make peace with those who want it. The Afghan government won't accept the reality in this country. It doesn't understand that the Taliban are ready to continue the war at all cost."

Ten years after the fall of the Taliban, Afghanistan's future seems more uncertain than ever.

Author: Ratbil Shamel / act
Editor: Grahame Lucas