Representatives of the government and Taleban have met in the hills above Islamabad, Pakistan, at talks about peace talks hosted by the Nawaz Sharif government.
It is the first time that the Taleban have acknowledged participating in a meeting with the Afghan government. Officials from the US and China were invited as observers.
Taleban were represented by four former ministers, an ex-governor and one member of the group.
The government delegation from the High Peace Council was led by Hekmat Khalil Karzai, the deputy minister for political affairs in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. At a press conference on their return from the meeting in the Murree Hills, the media was assured that the government has sought an assurance that respect for rights and the Constitution were non-negotiable. In other words, there can be no amendments to the first section of the Constitution (including the structure of government) and the second section, which includes fundamental rights of citizens.
The overnight Murree talk about talks that started on June 7 has gone down well both here and abroad. The National Security Council (NSC) called it a first step towards peace in Afghanistan. There was similar endorsement from NATO, leaders of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation when they met recently in Ufa, Russia, and UN, and hope that they could count on Pakistan for the progress and success of the talks. The next round will be after the Eid holidays, but no date has been fixed.
The office of the former president Hamid Karzai has also said the face-to-face talks were a good start, and said success would depend on the “honesty” of Pakistan.
The Pakistani prime minister called the talks a “major breakthrough”.
According to the Pakistani army spokesman, General Asim Bajwa, Pakistan wanted Afghanistan to have control of the peace talks. “Peace in Afghanistan is very important for Pakistan. The same for Afghan government too. Those who think the results of peace are not in their interests should be identified,” he said enigmatically.
Mohammad Aref Rahmani, member of parliament (MP) from Ghazni, is among those who believe the Murree meeting proves that Pakistan is crucial to peace in Afghanistan. There have been other meetings between representatives of the government and Taleban including two meetings in Oslo and Urumqi but the meeting hosted by Islamabad is the most significant. In his opinion, the Murree talks could not have been without the intervention of Pakistan’s government and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). “The reality is that Taleban are not our opposite. They are being used as tools … led by Pakistani intelligence. Previously there were many doubts about the honesty of Pakistan with regard to peace in Afghanistan,” he said.
According to Rahmani, the next and subsequent rounds of talks would see a lot of bargaining for positive results and would be “difficult as well as time consuming”.
Activists like Munira Yusufzada are fearful about the possible loss of rights of citizens – the chipping away of democratic achievements of the last 14 years in exchange for an end to decades of fighting. Says Yusufzada, “The prospect of an arrangement where some of the rights are traded by the government to armed opponents, and (its) readiness to amend the Constitution has created fear that civil liberties and citizens’ rights that have been enshrined in the Constitution would be eliminated in the peace deal.”
Schisms within
The Murree talks also exposed the schisms in the Taleban. The absence of representatives from the Qatar office has cast a shadow on the results of the talks. Nayeem Wardak, spokesperson in the Doha office, rejected reports that Sher Mohammad Abas Stanekzai, deputy foreign minister in the Taleban regime, had attended the meeting. Political analyst Wahid Muzhda who is well-informed about the Taleban believes the talks in Murree were less a step for peace and more an assertion of Pakistan’s influence.
Mullah Akhtar Mansoor, the head of the Quetta Shura had insisted on a role for the political office of Qatar. The Taleban neither rejected nor confirmed the participation of the Qatar group. People worry the factionalism could see support growing for the Islamic State (ISIS). “If some Taleban feel excluded in the current talks, they could join ISIS, and the war would continue. The government must ensure the participation of all opponents,” says Freshta Amin, a resident of Kabul. The Islamic State has emerged in recent months in Afghanistan by recruiting from the ranks of disillusioned Taleban.
The government is being advised to demand a ceasefire before proceeding any further with talks. Haji Din Mohammad, who was in the government delegation to Islamabad, said the start of the peace talks does not mean an end to the war. Senate chairman, Fazel Hadi Muslimyar has said an end to the war should be the government’s only precondition for talks.
Abdul Qader Zazai Watandost, MP, observes, “If they want to show trust, the best test would be for the Afghan government to propose the issue of ceasefire – it would also reveal if the other side is Taleban or not, whether they have the authority. If they accept the ceasefire and do not break it, it means there is trust (between the two sides) from this point on,” he says.
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