Hopes for peace in Afghanistan

It is a measure of the go-strategic importance of Afghanistan that after US president Donald Trump announced last month his intention to withdraw half of American troops—7,000 out of 14,000 — from Afghanistan, there has been a flurry of activity around the issue of restoring peace in war-ravaged Afghanistan.

Regional countries — Iran, Pakistan and Russia — are actively trying to bring an end to the 17-year-long conflict. In December, US special representative on Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad met Taliban representatives and discussed issues pertaining to future troop withdrawal as well as proposal for a ceasefire. On Dec 31, Iran said the Afghan Taliban had visited Tehran for a second round of peace talks in just a few days. A spokesman for the Iranian government said on Dec 30 a delegation of the Taliban held lengthy negotiations with Iran’s deputy foreign minister in Tehran. This came just days after Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, visited Kabul and told reporters that talks had been held with the Taliban in Kabul.

Peace in Afghanistan will benefit all neighbouring countrires, most important of all Pakistan where 2.7 million Afghan refugees (the figure is Prime Minister Imran Khan’s) are still living. Peace in Afghanistan will facilitate return of these refugees to their homeland thereby easing Pakistan’s difficult economic situation. Some quarters in the US, however, are apprehensive that the vaccum created by the US military withdrawal from Aghanistan and Syria might help Iran expand its influence in the region. The proposed US troop withdrawal and the possibility of formation of a government in Afghanistan led by the Taliban have rang alarm bells in New Delhi as it sees this scenario a major threat to its influence in Afghanistan. Indians fear that a Taliban government in Kabul will likely offer help to Kashmiri freedom fighters. 

Published in The Express Tribune, January 2^nd, 2019.

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