There are few questions that need to be answered: Why were Kabul attacks carried out right in the middle of the peace dialogues? Why have Taliban carried out many other attacks after the September 16th attacks?
This unwise attitude and behaviour on the part of the Taliban shows that they were not, they are not and they will never be in favour of peace dialogues. There is a serious and huge trust deficit between all the parties involved and all the stakeholders, but mainly between Taliban, USA and the Afghan government.
The US wants to get out of Afghanistan due to budgetary pressures as well as military complications and wants a safe exit for its troops.
The Taliban want to put up more and more pressure on the US and the Afghan government to make most out of the situation in terms of dollars etc. They want the US and the Afghan government to be at their knees and beg the Taliban to provide them with a safe exit.
Unfortunately, the US is not able to foresee the post-US exit situation and the consequences that will have to be faced by the Afghan government and the Afghan people. The Taliban will indulge in the attacks on the Afghan government to topple it and take complete control of the whole of Afghanistan. This is something that the Afghan government, the Northern Alliance and the supporters of the Afghan government will not like.
The current situation will continue because none of the parties is ready to give up, none believes in peaceful solution, especially Taliban have and will never accept the concept of Western Democracy that is why they have never accepted the Afghan government from day one and they will never accept the present setup brought into power through elections.
The Afghan Taliban want to eat the whole cake and also take it home and do not want to share any bit of it with other stakeholders. The other stakeholders would prefer to keep Taliban away from power echelons of Kabul because of extremist and hardliner Islamic views and their ruthless policies and behaviour in the past when they were in power i.e. they monitored beards and under shaves of men walking on the roads, butchered human beings like goats and did not allow widows to work outside the house to earn livelihood for their orphan children.
Many people want the Afghan war to continue because fighting war has become a source of livelihood for many people and the war economy has become part of the black economy. Many people are making money by supplying and selling arms and ammunition to all the parties involved in the Afghan war. Many are selling weapons stolen from those Nato supplies in the black market. Many are making money by supplying jihadis to different groups of Taliban. Some old foes are grinding their axes against one another.
The Taliban do not have the capacity and ability and the mindset to think in long term and greater interests of Afghanistan and its people. They also know that they can never come into power through elections because they do not enjoy popular support among Afghan people.
Even the suicide attacks on the election rally of President Ashraf Ghani on 17th September 2019 wherein 46 people were killed and dozens were injured has proved that they do not like the election process, will never participate in any kind of democratic process and want to put so much pressure on the Afghan government and the US so that Kabul is handed over to them in a plate. They want to come to power through the power of barrel and not through the power of the ballot.
The Taliban are seriously ill-advised by their supporters and masters. Another problem is that it is unclear from which country and which international agency each Taliban group is taking advice.
In their article published at Al Jazeera on 3rd September 2019, “The Afghan 'peace' deal will not bring peace to the Afghan people” Sahar Halaimzai & Horia Mosadiqi have elaborated the future situation and fears of the Afghan People that they will have to live under the ruthless regime of Taliban. The women groups, minority groups and the Afghan government has been excluded from the talks and their fears have not been taken into consideration. All the weaker sectors of society are afraid that they will be left at the mercy of the Taliban and their ruthlessness.
If the US-Taliban peace talks do not materialize then the current conflict will continue. The Taliban will continue to irritate and trouble the US and the Afghan government, as a response the Afghan government and India will continue to support Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan and terrorist attacks will continue in Pakistan, Indian rivals will continue to trouble India etc. And last but not the least, Afghanistan will continue to suffer in war, misery and poverty and the ultimate losers will be the Afghan people who have been suffering in war, poverty, misery and homelessness for The Afghan 'peace' deal will not bring peace to the Afghan people.
One feels that the Taliban need to improve their reputation of being trustworthy and reliable. In the past they even made an agreement at Khana Kaaba at Mecca where Haj is performed by Muslims of the world, the most sacred place for the Muslims, they hugged their opponents and signed agreements but against broke all the promises and got involved in a war. The Taliban should also improve their image and reputation among the Afghan People. They must take a softer position on many issues so that people of Afghanistan, women and minorities stop fearing Taliban as something horrible. They must win the hearts of the Afghan people with a softer image and not think of taking control of lands and human beings of Afghanistan. But they do not seem to be taking this advice seriously because recently they issued threats to Afghan people, women and minority groups that anyone who opens their mouth against them will be eliminated. Afghan people are naturally bound to be scared of the people who are so violent that they cannot tolerate any kind of criticism and who kill civilian just to increase their pressure on the US and Afghan government and create their fear among Afghan people.
If the Taliban do not give up violence, then this war will never come to an end and the Afghan people will have to suffer forever and ever.
The views and opinions expressed in the article do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik.
