Abdullah Mustafvi
Despite multiple dialogue sessions between Afghan Taliban and USA , unlucky land of Afghanistan is still in search of durable peace. Restoration of peace is as desperately needed by Pakistan as desired by the Afghan masses. Unrest in Afghanistan is nothing less than a complex regional issue which is worsening with every passing day because of the vicious game play of global players. In the past, US representatives and Afghan Taliban held many rounds of talks in Qatari capital Doha whereas few rounds of talks took place in Moscow between Afghan senior politicians headed by former president Hamid Karzai and Taliban, without the official presence of Kremlin and Afghan government. Amid this situation, without taking into confidence the domestic Afghans, the peace talks in at various locations could not bringany thing like peace but death and destruction in war ridden Afghanistan. The Afghan government, civil society, political parties, tribal chiefs, ethnic and religious minorities are the real stake holders who can make the peace negotiations participatory, inclusive and entirely Afghan owned.Taliban repeatedly maintained the stance of declaring Afghan government an American installed puppet and declined any sort of dialogues . Taliban firmly adhere to the stance that they are the legal and legitimate heirs to the capital throne but retrospectively their claim had been criticized by the puppet ruling side. Taliban foothold started in late 1990s from Mazir-e-sharif and spread over majority of the Pashtun dominated areas .This stunning victory was hard earned trophy of tough battles with hard core criminal gangs, warlords and drug dealers. During Taliban rule from 1996-2001, they were fighting consistently against the rival groups mainly Northern Alliance. Pakistan, UAE and Saudi Arabia extended diplomatic recognition to the Taliban government. On the rival side, the Northern Alliance , Burhanudin Rabbani and Ahmad Shah Massoud were recognized as president and foreign minister respectively . Ahmad Shah Massoud visited European Union where he addressed the European Union parliament prior to 9/11. The operation “Enduring Freedom” toppled Taliban regime, and in December 2001 under Bonn agreement Afghanistan Interim Authority was established, in which a lion share of power was given to the Northern Alliance .A time came when Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and chief of militant Hizb e Islami, struck a deal with Afghan government to become a part of the system and brought Hizb e Islami into political field. However, Taliban remained away from such an inclusive and Afghan owned peace arrangement. Besides Gulbuddin Hekmatyar many other reluctant figures and staunch leaders joined the Kabul government, in which Burhanuddin Rabbani, Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, SibghatullahMojadedi were the prominent names. As of today, United States, Pakistan, India, Iran, China and Russia are in the arena as main stake holders of Afghan peace process. Apparently, Americ is looking for an early exit to achieve maximum political gains at home as Donald Trump already took unprecedented moves like withdrawal from Iran nuclear deal, pullout from Paris climate change agreement, and US embassy’s move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem etc, to full fill his election promises. A hasty American pullback without orchestrating a power sharing formula and political settlement among the opposing parties could prove highly detrimental to the peace in the region.The emergence of ISIS in Afghanistan rings many distant bells for Russia and Iran . In 2016 Russia special envoy to Afghanistan ZamirKabulov stated that “Taliban interests objectively conceded with us”. Both Russia and Taliban perceive Daesh as an imminent threat and a serious challenge . Iran, just like Russia, had bitter historical rivalry with Taliban but the presence of US in the Iranian backyard compelled Tehran to covertly support Taliban but the advent of ISIS . Somit is a strange fact that historical fact that Daesh factor converted Iran-Taliban rivalry into cooperation and over whelming support to deal with common threats . Afghan puppet government views Pakistan as an old well wisher of Taliban and a firm critique of secular nationalist governments in Afghanistan including the present regime . Pakistan has emerged as a key player which is actively facilitating the process without taking sides of rival sides. China, being an inspiring regional power, do have security and economic stakes in Afghanistan. China want peace in Afghanistan to pursue her long term regional economic goals. Such economic acceleration would surely contribute towards regional peace and ease Pakistan on western borders. Afghan prosperity as a joint venture of Russia , China and Pakistan contains all the reasons to irritate USA which had not spent more than 17 years in this region to walk away with empty hands. While facilitating peace in Afghanistan, decision makers in Islamabad should not loose sight from complex dimensions of this prolonged crisis.
