The way the Afghan Taliban are behaving back in Afghanistan while engaging the US in Doha talks to discuss the pullout of foreign forces and the ceasefire is grotesque. Much to the shock of those interesting in negotiating a peace deal with the militant outfit, suicide bombers, linked with Taliban, killed at least 19 people in an attack on a government office in Kandahar on Saturday night. The deceased were election workers who were registering voters for the presidential elections to be held in September. Spokesperson for Taliban Qari Yousuf Ahmadi also claimed to have killed another 57 people, associated with the Afghan security forces. The Afghan officials disputed the claim and said they had killed 25 Taliban militants in the clash. The bloodshed also claimed several lives in Farah province.
Taliban’s refusal to go for a ceasefire makes the whole Qatar-sponsored ‘peace talks’ between the US and Taliban meaningless. One may doubt the sincerity of the Taliban’s for peace in the wake of an ongoing spate of killings in the war-ravaged country. Perhaps the Taliban are using the hike in violence as a bargaining chip to win favours from the tired and torn US forces ahead of the pullout. Qatar, the mediator of the peace process, says the two sides discussed the withdrawal of foreign troops, preventing militants from using Afghanistan to harm the United States or other countries and a comprehensive ceasefire. The talks, where the Afghan government is not a party, may remain a futile exercise given the track record of both the US and Taliban to honour deals. The US is facing international isolation on the issue of breaching the Iran nuclear deal, whereas the Taliban have the history of breaching ceasefire deals done with local warlords and the Afghan government.
The purported ‘peace deal’ is not going to have many buyers even in the Taliban and US quarters. The latest voice showing doubts on the prospects of earning a peace deal with militants is John Spoko, the US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction. He even points to other extremists organizations who will continue to posing threat to Afghanistan and the international community even if the US and other international forces pull out of Afghanistan. Afghan forces’ inability to tackle the militants in the absence of international forces is not a secret.
The situation demands that Afghan forces be made professionally trained and the government be made powerful so that in case of the pull out of international forces, the government remains intact and forces continue combating threats.
