High-level officials from four countries are charting a road-map for peace even as violence intensifies and insecurity spreads. Three meetings have been held – Islamabad has twice been host and Afghanistan once the draughtsman of this political map.
High-level officials from four countries are charting a road-map for peace even as violence intensifies and insecurity spreads. Three meetings have been held – Islamabad has twice been host and Afghanistan once the draughtsman of this political map.
Opposing the map makers are armed groups who are deadly against the end of conflict in Afghanistan. They believe that power flows from the barrel of a gun.
Political experts are worried the armed opposition can derail the efforts to chart a peace map. Hamidulla Fetrat says the unsaid pre-conditions imposed by the armed opponents of the government are a massive challenge. The Taleban have not put conditions on any future meeting with the government but in the past these have included the exit of all foreign troops, implementation of Islamic law and the establishment of an Islamic nation.
But Fetrat is optimistic about the current round of talks involving the Chinese, Pakistani, US and Afghan governments. “If declarations (at the end of every round of the four-nation talks) are to be taken seriously, the resolve to crush all those who refuse to negotiate and insist on fighting, (in it) there is hope for progress in the peace talks,” he says.
Following the last round of talks in Islamabad, the four nations have to set a time frame for armed groups to join the talks with the Afghan government.
Sartaj Aziz, the foreign affairs advisor to the Pakistan prime minister, has said the joint efforts to persuade the Taleban to join the peace process would considerably help reduce the violence in Afghanistan. “We believe that our joint efforts including efforts to strengthen trust should have as its goal the aim of bringing most factions of the Taleban to the peace process,” he is quoted by the media.
The next round of talks is scheduled to take place in Kabul on Feb 23.
Neighbourly interest
Sharifa Eqbal, a member of the civil society group Madani Zanan e Azadi Khwah (association of women seeking liberty) would like to see the participation of Afghanistan’s northern neighbours in peace efforts. “Our northern neighbours are faced with serious challenges and are concerned that the war in Afghanistan could spill into Central Asian countries,” she says. “The neighbours would work to restore peace in the country, and their help and participation would assist the current peace process,” she is optimistic.
Ali Reza Hasani, a lecturer at Gawharshad private university airs similar views. He thinks Russia’s views on peace in Afghanistan should be sought or it could play the Taleban against its “strategic enemy” the US.
Public opinion is practical about the peace talks. Until there is a halt to the gun fire, hopes of peace and reconciliation are for the optimist, people say. Asef Arman who lives in Kabul is of the opinion “it is too early to be hopeful about the four-nation talks because there are doubts about Pakistan’s honesty.” He would like China and the US to guarantee Pakistan’s role while Islamabad proves it has stopped supporting terror groups in Afghanistan.
Aqela from Mazar-e-Sharif is concerned about insecurity in the north. “The armed opponents must be made to realise that they cannot get their way through violence and join the talks and negotiation.”
Will the multiplicity of groups be beneficial or detrimental to talks? Misam Ghaznawi, a political analyst says, “Multiple groups can be weakening in the battlefield but would increase the complexities in the peace process with their different or even opposing views.” Ghaznavi thinks the peace map must set down parametres that are strictly followed.
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