President Ghani yet to unveil policy to establish peace with Taliban

With Karzai’s peace council almost defunct, Ghani can explore other avenues


Tahir Khan October 17, 2014

ISLAMABAD: Although Afghan President Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai has been pleading for peace with the Taliban since his inauguration last month, he is yet to formally unveil a reconciliation strategy.

The High Peace Council formed by former president Hamid Karzai to bring the Taliban to the negotiation table failed in its aim and is almost defunct. It is unclear if Ghani will revive the council or opt for a different approach.



In his farewell speech on September 28, Karzai admitted his “relentless peace efforts” had failed, leaving the behemoth task to the new administration.

Overture

Reaching out to the Taliban earlier this week, Ghani encouraged them to join the peace efforts and allow their children to be educated. “I have a message for political opponents. Join hands to bring peace to this soil because peace is the demand of every child,” Afghan state TV quoted the president as saying on the occasion of Teachers’ Day.

“Stability cannot be ensured without peace. You have deprived yourselves of education, but do not deprive your children of education,” said Ghani.

On the fence

Taliban leaders who had rejected Karzai’s dialogue offers also seem unimpressed by Ghani’s peace appeals.

Afghan Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid believes “Ghani is even weaker than Karzai and dialogue with his administration would be a waste of time.”

In an email to The Express Tribune on Friday, Mujahid said, “Our longstanding stance about talks had been that we wanted dialogue with those who have power and are effective.”

The present Kabul government is more powerless than Karzai’s regime as it is directly in the hands of the Americans, he added.

“Ashraf Ghani has no powers and he has completely surrendered to the US. Talks with such an administration will be useless because he cannot take any decision without their approval and we do not want to waste our time,” said the spokesperson in the email.

Moreover, the Taliban feel that President Ghani has further complicated the peace process and made it difficult to achieve by signing the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) which allows US forces to stay in the country longer.

Sources privy to the Taliban political process say that at the moment Taliban negotiators describe the BSA as the main hurdle in reconciliation.

Taliban leaders insist they want to resolve some issues with the US first via direct talks, while the phase of intra-Afghan dialogue will come at a later stage. They want a discussion with Americans on the complete end to the “invasion” of US-Nato troops, release of Taliban leaders at Guantanamo and removal of key leaders’ names from the UN’s sanctions list.

“We would definitely enter into intra-Afghan dialogue but at a later stage,” a Taliban negotiator told The Express Tribune. He requested anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media.

What Ghani can do

Many in Afghanistan do not agree with the Taliban’s notion because they believe intra-Afghan dialogue is the only option to solve the country’s problems. The international community as well as Pakistan favours an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace process, terming it the best option for Afghans to determine their future.

For this to happen, Ghani, who promised peace during his election campaign, should attempt to dig deeper and figure out why Karzai’s efforts to bring the Taliban to the table failed. The president could win Taliban’s trust if he takes some confidence building measures, the first of which can be reopening the Taliban’s political office in Doha, Qatar.

The said office shutdown soon after opening in June last year over Karzai’s criticism of the Taliban white flag and the use of a plaque identifying the movement as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. It remains closed to this day. The reopening of the office could mark a revival of the fragile peace process and a possible way for the new government to find a solution.

Ghani also has a good opportunity to begin talks with the second largest resistance group in Afghanistan, Hizb-e-Islami, led by former prime minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar because he favours dialogue with the Afghan government.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 18th, 2014.

 

COMMENTS (3)

Sexton Blake | 9 years ago | Reply

There has been a failure to communicate with the Taliban at several levels, and this includes the US, President Karzai, and Pakistan. For the last 13 years all we have had is pretend dialogue. The future for Afghanistan does not look good. The current Government which is really the Northern Alliance will never get along with the Taliban and visa-verse. This can only mean future ongoing trouble for Pakistan.

Blithe | 9 years ago | Reply

We wish afghans the best of luck. Under the statesmanship of PM Sharif a constructive policy has been initiated. The days of bellicose language between Musharraf and Karzai are over .

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