The subtle art of not making peace

In the movie, A Few Good Men, there is a scene where Tom Cruise asks Colonel Jessup (Jack Nicholson), for access to some files Cruise would need to investigate a murder that Jessup had orchestrated. In order to create hurdles in the investigative process, Jessup agrees to give the files but demands, “you have to ask me nicely.” Jessup wins it that day but loses in the end.

I was reminded of that scene when I read in The New York Times that the government in Kabul and the Taliban have reached a tentative deal on the talks’ guiding principles. The Taliban also announced on their social media that they had reached an agreement with Kabul on two dozen points under discussion. But Ashraf Ghani, who is uniquely experienced in derailing peace agreements and keeping his own country and the people occupied by a foreign recalcitrant military, whined a Jessup-like demand: he said that the government in Kabul be referred to by its formal name the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. Such demands were made by the Taliban in the past and led to the derailing of the peace talks in 2013. They wanted to be addressed as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. They have dropped that demand this time around though.

Somehow, the Taliban and Kabul government are exchanging their role, habits, and actions. Kabul is also insisting that peace talks are still miles away from achieving a peace deal and that the Taliban made the announcement because the Western officials are asking them to. When did the Western officials and the Taliban get on the same page and Kabul on a different one? It used to be the West and the Kabul government teamed up and were opposed by the Taliban.

The reason this could prove to be dangerous for all, especially Kabul, is because to create a fertile land for peace, the fertiliser the Taliban have always used is sheer violence. They know that they were asked to come to the table because they were undefeatable in the battlefield. And once things go south, it would be hard to keep track of the violent attacks because there is the Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K) in Afghanistan too, which is heavily aided and abetted by Kabul and New Delhi. It would be hard to control that fallout from the failure of this possible peace because the mighty superpower America’s presence in Afghanistan is only a tiny fraction of what it used to be. Nobody would be able to slow down the violence. That is perhaps one of the main reasons why the Western and the American officials are also frustrated with Ghani’s stance. Even Ghani’s negotiating team is split over Ghani’s stalling of the peace with the Taliban.

A former Afghan presidential adviser Torek Farhadi said that Ghani is refusing the peace deal to go forward without the text mentioning the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan because otherwise “he opens the door for the non-recognition of the Afghan republic”. And this isn’t about the dignity of his country but as Farhadi said, “President Ghani has resisted this concept from the start because there is no guarantee that he would remain president otherwise.” This is about his own selfish interests.

Ghani is willing to shed the blood of his people as long as he can use his cunning to remain in power and keep the Taliban from overthrowing him, which is the most obvious outcome after peace establishes in Afghanistan. That is another exchange of characters with the violent groups. It used to be that terrorist groups would thrive in violent environments. Today, Ghani is extending that violence and derailing peace because only in the absence of peace, he thrives. It is quite amazing how time reveals the true colours of outwardly clean appearing folks.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 3^rd, 2020.

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