Peace Prospects

The international community and Peace High Council have kept the door open for negotiations but the Taleban have shown no interest in ending the war.

The international community and Peace High Council have kept the door open for negotiations but the Taleban have shown no interest in ending the war.
A Taleban attack on the Farah court on April 3 left at least 40 people dead, and 150 injured.The Taleban owned up responsibility for the suicide attack. Five days later President Hamid Karzai travelled to Farah to condole with the victims. He simultaneously threatened revenge and held out the promise of talks with pro-peace elements in the Taleban.
The president said he would split the ranks of the Taleban. He would separate those who are “puppets of others and seeking enmity in the country” from Taleban that are “from this land and … damage unknowingly their country”.
His lofty intentions notwithstanding how would the government isolate in the Taleban those who are responsible for attacks like in Farah. Indeed are there Taleban fighters who are against the war? If yes, are they being forced to fight?
Some political observers believe there are elements in the Taleban who do not see war as the solution and so Karzai may be able to divide the ranks of the Taleban. But this rests on the premise that the moderate anti-war Taleban are ready to come out of the yoke of “others” and act independently.
Rezwanullah Basharmal, formerly a lecturer at Ariana University of Nangarhar province points out that some Taleban are forced to fight because the Pakistan ISI (military intelligence) hold their families hostage. “This means that the story (the Afghan conflict) is in others’ control, and those who stretch their hand to the government are either killed or get lost,” he believes.
As examples he cites the case of Mullah Barader who was close to Mullah Omar but has vanished ever since he showed an interest in “talks with the Afghan government”. So also “Mullah AghaJan Motasim was frequently attacked in Karachi, Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef(the Talebanambassador in Islamabad) and Mawlawi Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil (ex-minister of foreign affairs).
However, political analyst Khaled Noor doubts it will be possible to wean away the moderates. “If they were two parts, one political and the other fighter, it may have been possible,” he says.