Syed Basharat
In the beginning of year 2019 American and Taliban officials agreed in principle to the framework of a peace dealto end 17 years of war in Afghanistan. As per the statement of the negotiator, ZalmayKhalilzad, the framework includes Taliban’s agreement to a cease-fire and to talk directly with the Afghan government which the insurgents have opposed in the past. The draft framework, is the biggest tangible step toward ending a war.The draft agreement on the issue of foreign troop withdrawal and the Taliban pledges that Afghan soil would not be used against others. “We want peace quickly, we want it soon, but we want it with prudence,” President Ashraf Ghani said in a statement. As per the New York times reports , “Since the United States started to engage the Taliban, this by far is the closest to a deal,” said Hekmat Khalil Karzai, a former Afghan deputy foreign minister who leads the Center for Conflict and Peace Studies and has been involved in the peace efforts for years.
The President made it clear that his priority is to end the war in Afghanistan with an agreement which ensures the country will never again serves as a base for terrorists to attack the U.S. or any other country. 45,000 members of the country’s security forces had been killed since 2014, as per the statement of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. On January 21, talks were expected to last only a couple of days. But the two sides talked for six days. The Conversation ( an independent and research community ) while covering the victory narrative of afghan Us peace negotiations reported that The Taliban fighters in Afghanistan are predominantly millennials and many carry phones and post on Facebook. They took up the positive tone and celebrated the prospect that the war would end and peace would come. Theirs was an uncomplicated message, with no political caveats. This was a remarkable development as, until now, Taliban popular discourse had typically portrayed “peace” as a foreign conspiracy to undermine the legitimate jihad. As an indicator of the Taliban mood, on the day after Khalilzad’s departure, an audio of a tarana, was widely circulated on WhatsApp. It articulates a narrative of victory, envisaging a Taliban army, in their signature white turbans, sweeping across the country.
Pakistan shares border with Afghanistan and has a vital role to play in this peace deal. U.S. President Donald Trump wrote a formal letter to Khan asking for his help to bring the Taliban to the table for negotiations. Imran Khan said the U.S. has changed its tune by requesting help instead of saying Islamabad is not doing enough, as U.S. officials have previously insisted. Pakistan has convinced the Taliban that neither U.S. nor Taliban were winning and there is absolutely no military solution to the ongoing war in Afghanistan. Taliban were further sensitised to focus on the rebuilding of Afghanistan through international funding of their homeland rather than empty slogans of victory .An unstable Afghanistan threatens Pakistan, therefore Pakistan has immense interest for the peace in Afghanistan. Therefore, Pakistan immediately responded to US request to facilitate the peace process in Afghanistan.
Let us pray that this leads to peace and ends almost three decades of suffering of the Afghan people.
(The views express by author are personal. Syed Basharat, a socio political observer and can be reached at [email protected])
