The Intra-Afghan talks are held Hostage by Aliens

By Hafeez Hassanabadi (Translated by Archen Baloch)

There is no doubt that the Afghan people are badly exhausted from the decades-long war. They need peace of mind and a break to breathe. Only those nations can understand the values of peace that have gone through the hell of uncommitted sins. But the Afghan peace-loving wounded dove is trapped in the cage of Pakistan’s conspiracies.

The drama, that has been staged by the ISI in the name of US-Taliban peace talks, has not only got America trapped in it, but it has also put all kinds of pressure on the Afghan government to do whatever is not in the interest of the Afghan people. These peace talks are neither in the interest of the Afghan government nor they serve the United States’ interests, but with time, United States will learn the secret, what a big mistake it has made by following the wrong signals of Pakistan.

Since the talks were based on deceiving each other, a good result cannot be attached to them. The biggest self-deception in this “peace process” was that the United States lied by suddenly recognizing the Taliban as a political stockholder, whom it once called terrorists. Although the Taliban are proving that their position has not changed, the United States is spoiling its position by unnecessarily arguing to prove its point that these Taliban are not the Taliban of 2001s. The US is trying to deceive itself by giving the impression of trust that the Taliban have disassociated with Al-Qaeda, Jaish-e-Muhammad, Jamaat-ud-Dawa, etc.

It should be noted that if the Taliban’s slogans, practices and its affiliation with Pakistan didn’t change, then how can the expression of its disassociation with other terrorist organizations be justified? Another deception was that the US couldn’t get the Taliban to recognize its backed Kabul government, even though a serious world believes that negotiations are done with the one whose Legal status is recognized. There is no need to go far, take the United States itself. it ruled out talks with the Taliban unless it considered them as a political force.

 Later, before starting the direct talks with the Taliban, it fulfilled the legal requirements for recognizing the Taliban; first, they changed Taliban status from a terrorist organization to a regular political force. The question, however, arises as to why it did not do the same in the case of the Afghan government? Were American policymakers unaware of the dangers of leaving this unfulfilled? Of course, they knew. If not, it is very sad because now this issue along with many other issues will further complicate the Afghan crisis.

This self-deception of the US does not end here; the same attitude was also adopted towards the Taliban along with the Afghan government. Taliban realized that they were the winners, which led them to believe that the United States would do whatever they say in exchange for its honorable exit from Afghanistan. The Afghan government was kept excluded from the entire process of talks and pretended to be a listener to the Taliban, but that was a lie. Similarly, the perception that The US had confidence in the Kabul government and distanced from it was not based on reality.

Such self-deceptive actions by the United States have provided ample opportunities for many Afghan enemies or opportunistic forces to conspire and weaken the Afghan government such as creating obstacles to the electoral process, imposing a caretaker government, thereby creating doubts about elections results and finally announcing the formation of two governments at the same time.  All this was possible only because some forces believed the misconception that the US was going to hand over the government to the Taliban.

So they pressed for a caretaker government, thinking that until the preparations for the Taliban takeover are complete, they will enjoy Kabul rule. Behind the scene of all these negative efforts, the hands of Pakistan and Iran were visible step by step which were directed to remove Kabul government under any pretext and form a helpless government on their parole to pave the way for complete anarchy.

Although they didn’t succeed in doing so, they did manage to weaken the current government by fomenting internal strife, which Pakistan took advantage of to gain several concessions in conjunction with the Taliban. All obstacles seem to have been removed and intra-Afghan talks could take place any time, the reality is quite different because there will be neither any negotiations nor any agreement that could heal the wounds of Afghans.

Every common man, including the Kabul rulers, wants peace in Afghanistan. The Taliban will also want a ceasefire. The United States will not only want to withdraw from this war with dignity but also want to establish a mechanism that could protect its interests in the region. However, Pakistan wants to get something done from the United States by putting a gun on the Taliban’s shoulders, but, it is not in a position to get it done because it has lost its credibility.

The talks are supposed to be finding ways to bring peace to Afghanistan, but in reality, these efforts are being held hostage to Pakistan’s interests. In exchange for talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government, Pakistan wants the United States to press India to normalize its relations with Pakistan, remove it from the FATF’s grey list and improve its relations with Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia. But it seems that the United States is unwilling to give more concession to Pakistan than what it has already received.

The Taliban had high hopes for the United States since the beginning of the talks, but because of their weak position on the negotiating table, they are not going to achieve the success they had hoped for. Now, before sitting down on the negotiating table formally, they realize that their terror war might be impressive on the battlefield, but their hands on the negotiating table are empty. This is the main reason why inter-Afghan talks are stalled and various excuses are now being used to waste time. The Taliban have nothing to satisfy ordinary Afghan people and the international community other than a ceasefire. Their style of governing is neither attractive to Afghans nor acceptable to the world.  While the ceasefire maintained by the Afghan government, Its clear position on the freedom of women and youth and the continuation of democracy over the last twenty years are not only the demands of ordinary Afghans but also the whole civilized world including the European Union and the United States are supportive of them.

Since the beginning of the talks, the Taliban have been thinking that the current government will be removed and Power will be given to them through an exhibition of Jirga, shura, or a caretaker government because the United States was ignoring the Afghan government and not even questioning the acceptance of the current government. But now at this very moment, the Afghan people are asking questions, seeking explanations and guarantees in the presence of the European Union, NATO and the world as witnesses. Yet the Taliban are asking for power-sharing with the same Kabul government they didn’t recognize!

Now, this whole process is going to be difficult for another reason because the Taliban besides bearing their burden of getting to power, also have to shoulder the burden of their master asking the United States for many concessions for Pakistan. Pakistan’s worn-out plan also cannot guarantee that it will work properly, as the Iranian revolution, first the Taliban will have to offer peace to all political, social and linguistic forces of Afghanistan to come into power with the help of the United States. Then it can terminate all of them from the way as did the Akhunds of Iran when they came in power.

Both the Taliban and Pakistan are well aware that a lot of water has already flown under the bridges over the last twenty years and it is impossible to turn the wheel of history to reverse. Neither will they cease fighting nor agree to a power-sharing scheme. Rather they’ll continue to confuse the United States until it realizes that it is directly fighting the ISI, not the Taliban, ISIS, al-Qaeda, or Jaish-e-Muhammad.

The day when the United States and the world realized that Pakistan was the root cause of all death and destruction and took practical steps to curb its hooliganism and continuously increased the pressure on Pakistan instead of the Afghan government, believe me, the Afghan crisis will be peacefully resolved in a matter of weeks. Otherwise, Pakistan, with its allies, will work its way by hatching new conspiracies every time and continue the bloodshed of innocent people in Afghanistan and the region as well only for the benefit of Punjab.