The US and the Afghan Taliban engaged in a series of discussions over a period of eighteen months to reach a consensus on how the US and NATO forces would withdraw peacefully. A wave of jubilation spread all around the region when the US and Taliban signed a peace agreement on 29 February, 2020. However, as the status quo suggests, the Taliban have not complied to any of the international demands made since the initiation of peace negotiations.
“In a multi-ethnic and diverse society such as that of Afghanistan, no single group, party, or faction, can claim to hold power by itself alone,” said Amir Saeed Iravani, the permanent representative and ambassador of Iran to the UN. It raises the question of whether all those efforts of the US that it used to negotiate with the Afghan Taliban as a solo group and to sign a peace agreement with them were futile attempts? There are many other reasons that keep leading to this conclusion.
The US and the Afghan Taliban engaged in a series of discussions and negotiations over a period of eighteen months to reach a consensus on how the US and NATO forces would withdraw peacefully. Following former US President Donald Trump’s , announcement that the US would be reducing its military presence in Afghanistan, all the regional countries began interacting with the Taliban to discuss regional security issues and play their role in a peaceful exit of US and NATO forces from Afghanistan.
In December 2018, the Taliban visited UAE to meet with US, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia as the diplomatic efforts stepped up to end the war. The year 2019 witnessed a flurry of trips by the Taliban from Doha to Moscow to have meetings with foreign diplomats and even rub shoulders with those Afghan leaders who were once their opponents. Iran, an arch enemy of the Taliban because of their anti-Shi’ite stance, invited them in January 2019 to discuss what the Taliban declared as a review of “the post-occupation situation, restoration of peace and security in Afghanistan and the region.”
Next month, Russia extended its invitation to the Taliban and some other political figures from Afghanistan for a two-day meeting in Moscow. Among the non-Taliban leaders were former Afghan president Hamid Karzai and Mohammad Hanif Atmar, an influential former national security adviser to the then Afghan President, Ashraf Ghani. No representative of the Afghan government was among the invitees as the Taliban considered them illegitimate rulers. Opening the session, Hamid Karzai expressed his hopes that the Moscow talks will end on a positive note and it will pave the way for a “democratic and free Afghanistan.” The Taliban, on the other hand, spoke in a completely different manner than Karzai. They talked of Sharia law and even rejected the very Afghan Constitution that was ratified by Hamid Karzai during his reign in the country.
From the beginning, the Taliban’s stance was to either disregard or implement the issues independently that were addressed during discussions with the US peace envoys in Doha. One was the Intra-Afghan dialogue, although they avoided having any interaction with the government. Furthermore, a conference to celebrate a century of diplomatic relations between Afghanistan and Russia was held in May 2019, in Moscow. At the meeting, was a 14-member Taliban delegation led by Mullah Baradar. However, the Afghan government did not send a single representative despite Hamid Karzai’s invitation to the summit.
The Taliban’s contempt for the standards of inclusivity that a country needs to ensure a stable and peaceful co-existence of its people in a multi-ethnic society was not limited to just these actions. As Taliban were an all-Pashtun led entity, no ethnic group had any representation among them nor was there any participation of women within their organization.
Yet, a wave of jubilation spread all around the region when the US and Taliban signed a peace agreement on 29 February, 2020. Pakistan’s Foreign Minister of the time, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, called the peace deal as a “historic breakthrough” that was a result of the roadmap drawn with the help of Pakistan. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi also aired his feelings of applause saying that the “military failure” in Afghanistan offers an opportunity to establish lasting peace in the country.
The local media also showered its praise for a policy Pakistan had pursued successfully in dealing with US/NATO/ISAF forces in Afghanistan for 20 years and how it dealt with deadly terrorism at home and in the neighboring country. Those who showed reservations and warned about being careful in dealing with the Taliban were mocked about and subjected to sarcastic remarks for spreading a negative image of the country through the unbridled media.
Although the withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan was still a pending issue, the over-optimistic expectations attached to the possibilities of re-emergence of the Taliban as ruler of the country and the expected restoration of peace and harmony in the region were overwhelming among the regional countries. Before the next phase of the agreement that called for an intra-Afghan talks could have convened[1] between the Taliban and the government, a wave of violence erupted in Afghanistan that mostly targeted security persons despite a proposal for reduction in violence had already been submitted to the USA by the Taliban.
Despite the US-Taliban agreement’s item 4 calling for a permanent ceasefire to initiate intra-Afghan dialogues and negotiations, the rise in violence continued unabatedly. The Islamic State also ramped up their attacks against Hazara community, on 15 May 2020, they carried out the most horrific attack on a maternity hospital killing 40 persons including new born babies and women. On the very next day of this dastardly attack, Sher Muhammad Abbas Stanikzai, the chief Taliban negotiator, criticized India for supporting traitors in Afghanistan. Appearing in an interview in USA, Stanikzai said, “And it [India] has been investing massively in minority ethnic groups against the ethnic Pashtun majority in Afghanistan due to their Pakistan-leaning[2].” He didn’t share any reason that had prompted him to make this accusation.
This comment was more in line with the ‘victim-bashing’ policy as it indirectly condemned the ethnic minority of the Hazara community for being part of the Indian conspiracy. Instead of condemning the ghastly incident and its perpetrators, Stanikzai found it pertinent to blame the victims, a sign of Taliban’s covert support to the perpetrators in their crimes.
It’s a far cry as, since the initiation of peace negotiations, the Taliban have shown no change in their policies. After a bitter experience of war and miseries for two decades, it was expected that they would have learned some new experiences to become more reformed and re-educated now. . A resolution passed recently by the United Nations also raised a concern on the presence of terrorist groups and the abuse of human rights, including those of women, girls, and minorities in Afghanistan. The resolution was voted by 116 members in favor and 10 abstained (which included Russia, China and Pakistan). After exhausting the military option, the only option left is to use pressure of the world community to have Taliban mend their ways though the divided opinion on this subject is a main hurdle in it.
[1] https://tribune.com.pk/story/2291441/afghanistan-peace-only-possible-through-intra-afghan-agreement
[2] https://tribune.com.pk/story/2223509/india-always-supported-traitors-in-afghanistan-taliban-negotiator
