Will it be possible for Afghan government to engage in meaningful talks with the Taliban in the near future? It will be unrealistic to lose all hope, but the latest developments show that the Taliban are getting tougher to be tamed. The set of conditions this insurgent group has put forward to join peace talks is the latest proof of their increasing power and stubborn reluctance to become part of any negotiations aimed at ending the 15-year war. Among other things, they demanded the release of an unspecified number of political prisoners, the removal from a UN blacklist freezing their assets and imposing a travel ban on its leaders, and wanted a political office formally recognised. These are “among the preliminary steps needed for peace,” the Taliban said in a statement. ““Without them, progress towards peace is not feasible.”
It’s possible that the Taliban have made these demands with a realisation that they won’t be met. Releasing political prisoners is no easy thing for any government in Kabul, and that too as a precondition for talks to start. But the insurgents are feeling bold enough to make such a demand due to the gains they have made on the ground. The Taliban forces have ratcheted up their campaign in the last year to topple the Kabul government, which has been struggling to fight back since most foreign troops left the country at the end of 2014. The Taliban demands came a day after representatives from the extremist group and former Afghan officials met in Doha at a conference to resolve the war organised by the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, a Nobel peace prize-winning crisis group.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has been trying sincerely to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table, for which he has enlisted the support of world powers. Officials from Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the US met last week to prepare the ground for a peace process and urged the Taliban to rejoin the process. There was a hope this coalition would make some progress in their efforts, but the latest developments show that they don’t have a genuine partner in Taliban to make the talks a reality.
It’s time for Kabul and its allies to come up with an alternative strategy to tame the Taliban. Talks are unlikely to produce the desired results. The first formal peace talks with the group since the start of the war collapsed last year after it was announced that Mullah Mohammad Omar, the Taliban founder who sanctioned the talks, had been dead for two years. The death threw the insurgents into disarray and infighting, but they have only strengthened their position on the battleground.
Will it be possible for Afghan government to engage in meaningful talks with the Taliban in the near future? It will be unrealistic to lose all hope, but the latest developments show that the Taliban are getting tougher to be tamed. The set of conditions this insurgent group has put forward to join peace talks is the latest proof of their increasing power and stubborn reluctance to become part of any negotiations aimed at ending the 15-year war. Among other things, they demanded the release of an unspecified number of political prisoners, the removal from a UN blacklist freezing their assets and imposing a travel ban on its leaders, and wanted a political office formally recognised. These are “among the preliminary steps needed for peace,” the Taliban said in a statement. ““Without them, progress towards peace is not feasible.”
It’s possible that the Taliban have made these demands with a realisation that they won’t be met. Releasing political prisoners is no easy thing for any government in Kabul, and that too as a precondition for talks to start. But the insurgents are feeling bold enough to make such a demand due to the gains they have made on the ground. The Taliban forces have ratcheted up their campaign in the last year to topple the Kabul government, which has been struggling to fight back since most foreign troops left the country at the end of 2014. The Taliban demands came a day after representatives from the extremist group and former Afghan officials met in Doha at a conference to resolve the war organised by the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, a Nobel peace prize-winning crisis group.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has been trying sincerely to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table, for which he has enlisted the support of world powers. Officials from Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the US met last week to prepare the ground for a peace process and urged the Taliban to rejoin the process. There was a hope this coalition would make some progress in their efforts, but the latest developments show that they don’t have a genuine partner in Taliban to make the talks a reality.
It’s time for Kabul and its allies to come up with an alternative strategy to tame the Taliban. Talks are unlikely to produce the desired results. The first formal peace talks with the group since the start of the war collapsed last year after it was announced that Mullah Mohammad Omar, the Taliban founder who sanctioned the talks, had been dead for two years. The death threw the insurgents into disarray and infighting, but they have only strengthened their position on the battleground.
