Imran Iqbal
Unfortunately, so far, there has been no serious and obvious effort witnessed, which could lead the Afghan conflict to its logical end of peaceful negotiations. The earlier international peace initiative for Afghanistan which included Pakistan, United States and China delegations, to discuss a roadmap for ending the Afghan conflict, was regarded as the last observable initiative for the desired end of negotiations. Keeping in view the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, there is a dire need of reviving it soon. As it represented the scenarios and real initiatives to resolve the Afghan problem. Currently, the solo approach by the US government, apparently meant for resolving the Afghanistan’s situation, is adding fuel to the deteriorating peace in Afghanistan. The Afghan Taliban have increased their offensives, despite the ongoing positive vibes from the opponent and the oppressors in Afghanistan. The US administration is somehow, still working on the hypothesis that military and political arms against the Afghan Taliban could be adopted in parallel, without realizing that practically, it has proven wrong. Besides, the main obstacle to peace is not the Taliban’s unwillingness to share power, but the presence of foreign troops in the country, same is the strong stance of the Afghan Taliban.
The increased attacks in Kabul by the so-called Islamic State (ISIS) or Daesh in Afghanistan suggests that the group has acquired strong footing in the country. Experts are of the opinion that without some form of political intervention, the conflict between the Afghan government and the Taliban will most likely continue as a stalemate. In the long term, this will still be an untenable situation, as it will hamper reconstruction efforts and cause further suffering for Afghanis. It will also likely witness the ISIS and other extremist groups increasing their local footprints at grass root level.
Experts also opine that the Afghan Taliban group’s large middle category consists of those who want Afghanistan to be an Islamic State but are willing to negotiate on the best means to establish it, including gradual and non-violent means , which might eventually include acceptance of a form of political pluralism. This category also include those who are not particularly religious, but who fight due to common grievances such as revenge, unemployment, political oppression, and tribal affiliations. Experts opine that any attempt to pitch Taliban moderates against the hardliners would not capture the large middle category, and render any peace negotiations unrepresentative and ineffective. It might ultimately also push more people toward the hard-line camp. It is widely agreed that there is no military solution to the Afghan conflict, the US has long sought quick fixes, such as more troops or exerting more diplomatic pressure on Pakistan to manage the conflict. These measures won’t lead to long-term peace. As more regional powers engage in Afghanistan. Despite the inherent difficulties, talking directly with the Taliban by the US government instead of the Afghan puppet government, would be the most viable long-term solution for achieving peace in Afghanistan. The progressive increase of offensive by the Afghan Taliban is not only effecting the morale of the Afghan government troops, it is also proportionally increasing the support of the common Afghans to Afghan Taliban. The most contributing factor in the increasing support of the Afghans to Taliban is the indiscriminate counter offensive launched by the Afghan forces with the support of the foreign fire power.
The prospect of peace negotiations thus needs to be brought up on a regular basis. These efforts will likely intensify in the years ahead, particularly as large regional powers such as China and Russia increase their interest in playing a more active role. The Peace talks are a contentious issue, however, not least within Afghanistan itself. Western engagement, meanwhile, remains characterized by a lack of knowledge about the nature of the Taliban and what it stands for. It is thus timely to take a step back by the real stakeholders and review some of the most common misconceptions about the Afghan Taliban. There is a dire need to separate the allegory from the factual position of Afghanistan, which could be a useful first step towards formulating some practically viable and sound policy decisions by the stakeholders for taking up the challenge of achieving peace for Afghanistan. Experts believe that during the peace process, the positive role of Pakistan could not be sidelined and the blame game against Pakistan in the wake of any security or political failure in Afghanistan, would bring irreparable damage to the regional peace.
