General Joseph Dunford’s candid admission

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the U.S. Military General Joseph Dunford has said: “The Taliban are not losing in Afghanistan, I think that is fair to say. We used the term stalemate a year ago and, relatively speaking, it has not changed much”. Dunford’s remarks came amid U.S. and Afghan attempts to launch peace talks with the Taliban, which is believed to control more territory than at any time since the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan began in 2001. It is a candid admission by the US Military General that Taliban are not losing; and one can conclude from the Taliban’s controlling more territory than the Kabul government that the latter is winning the war. It is in this backdrop that the Afghan government and allies of Afghanistan have stepped up efforts to end the ongoing conflict through reconciliation process. After more than 17 years of war and spending more than a trillion dollars plus human loss on both sides, the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has stepped up efforts to settle the conflict peacefully. In 2013, Imran Khan, then opposition leader and now Prime Minister of Pakistan, had suggested to US Administration “let’s be a peace coalition instead of war in Afghanistan”. The whole region has suffered due to this war. But, there is a perception that the US is interested in the continuation of instability in Afghanistan to justify its presence in the region. While Washington verbally supported the negotiation process, in reality it aimed to derail it, as peace can diminish the American influence and increase the Russian and Chinese influence. However, the US has been accusing Pakistan of supporting the Taliban and providing safe havens particularly to Haqqani network.
One could infer from the statements of President Donald Trump that that the objective of the US is not to win the war, but to undermine Afghan peace talks initiated by Russia, China and Pakistan. As Moscow, Beijing and Islamabad have been paving the way to reduce tensions in the region, Washington has been hurling threats on Pakistan over its alleged terrorism ties. US administration and President Donald Trump do not understand that more than 140000 US and NATO forces, and 250000 Afghan forces and Afghan police raised by them could not rein in the Taliban who continue to control large swathes of land in Afghanistan. In fact, the US and its allies failed to understand that Afghans have always guarded their independence religiously, and throughout its recorded history no power could subjugate them except for a brief period as in case of British or later Soviet occupation.
Of course, Pakistan, Russia, China and Iran wish to see peace and stability in Afghanistan, because peace, progress and prosperity of the region hinge on peace in Afghanistan. It was in this backdrop that Russia held international meeting on Afghanistan in which eleven countries of the region participated. The significant part was that for the first time Taliban’s official delegation participated in the conference, and also agreed to attend such meetings to find real peace in Afghanistan. In 2016, the Taliban had declared that it would not take part in peace talks brokered by representatives of Afghanistan, Pakistan, China, and the United States until the foreign occupation of the country ended. Now the Taliban leaders are not averse to holding dialogue. But since the Taliban leadership is firm on its stand that US forces must be withdrawn, Moscow conference or direct talks between the Taliban and the US would prove infructuous, unless the Taliban’s concerns are addressed.