Daily Times

Before the Afghan invasion of the Soviet Union in 1979, the former was little known to the world outside the Asian continent. Historically, archaeologists and historians considered this piece of land merely a landlocked state in Asia, and were reminded of its geographical importance due to an ancient region coinciding with its territories. Before becoming a geographically and strategically significant region, this track was known as Bactria.

Alexander in 329 BCE invaded the region of Bactria, but he failed to win any laurels. The British launched their expeditions in 1839-42 and 1978-80, and they also licked the dust. The Soviet Union also tried its luck by invading Afghanistan during the Cold War era, 1979-91, to suppress this region; the former was torn into pieces but the latter remained unconquered. America, to satiate its bellicose intensions, waged a bloody war in Afghanistan, under the banner of 9/11, which is still in action, completing its 18 years, and demonstrating extreme bloodshed, chaos and mayhem.

All these great powers remained unsuccessful to capture this piece of land owing to its deep-seated resistance fighters, ethnocentric mentality and unyielding belligerence. Like other powers, the US has also come to proceed through peace and table talks. This clearly means that the world’s only superpower realises the importance of solvingthe Afghan quagmire, which is commonly termed as the ‘Graveyard of Empires’ and the ‘Bleeding wound for the entire world’. Therefore, it would not be unfair to surmise that the Afghan conundrum would be solved through negotiations.

The US administration, spearheaded by Donald Trump, has entered into the seventh round of talks with the Afghan factions, who were primarily labelled by Americans as terrorists and peace spoilers. This means that the US is finding an escape route to avert further damage to American economic resources and military casualties in Afghanistan. After entering the Oval Office, Trump has clearly signalled the bureaucracy to conclude a deal that could best serve the US interests in Afghanistan. Trump ordered to do this at the earliest and soonest, or in the other case, he would pull the rug from under their feet.

In the recent era, when the negotiations between the US and Taliban factions were in the pipeline, they were disrupted by the American administration through carrying out drone strikes and killing the most important personnel of the Afghan factions. Therefore, the past negotiations to end the war failed to achieve any substantial gains owing to America’s non-serious attitude as peace talks and killings cannot move together. The Murree talks of 2015 were postponed indefinitely due to Mullah Umar’s death. The Quadrilateral Coordination Group comprising of the members, the US, Afghanistan, China and Pakistan, in June 2016,was also disrupted after the mysterious killing of Mullah Akhter Mansoor. The Moscow peace talks and the Heart of Asia talks also landed in fiasco. Hence, leading a peaceful agreement remained in doldrums owing to America’s reluctance.

The US administration, spearheaded by Donald Trump, has entered into the seventh round of talks with the Afghan factions

However,in the ongoing US-Taliban engagement to maintain peace in the blood-soaked and war-ravaged country, the US intention seems much different. The US has also called on the regional players to shoulder the responsibility by playing their constructive role to bring peaceful atmosphere in the war-ridden Afghan land.

The current seventh round of talks between the Taliban and the US administration is revolving around the following three main agendas:

Withdrawal of US-led NATO forces from Afghanistan

A complete truce and peaceful atmosphere in Afghanistan; and insurgents would not assault the Afghan and American forces

Negotiations would be intra-Afghan,also incorporating members of the Afghan government

However, the current stalemate persists as the Afghan factions don’t want to bring the Afghan government in the ambit of peace talks with the US as they consider them the puppet regime of the US. But the US wants the Afghan government to be the part of this process,as the US wishes to control Afghan power corridors through her installed governments in Afghanistan. Peace talks are proceeding, and both the groups are showing their willingness to move forward. Taliban have also acceded to the US demand to bring the Afghan government in the mainstream talks.

Both parties are striving to reach an agreement of withdrawal of 20,000 US troops; most of the Americans staying in Afghanistan would be to assist, train, and advise the Afghan forces. Taliban are also asked to cut their ties with the al-Qaeda and all other insurgents groups. According to UN reports, the US and the Afghan forces have killed more civilians than militants in the few last years.

The report of the US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) has also outlined certain findings. SIGAR is of the view that the long-awaited deal between Afghanistan and the US is supposed to yield certain threats. These include, endemic corruption, reintegration of ex-combatants, restricted oversight, threats to women rights, sluggish economic growth, widespread insecurity, illicit narcotics trade, and underdeveloped policing.

Therefore, if the US is seriously yearning for peace and development in the war-torn Afghanistan, it must form a comprehensive plan of withdrawal with appropriate mechanism of restructuring Afghanistan to avert the aforementioned threats. The US should revamp Afghanistan’s destroyed infrastructure, improve its educationand health system, and conduct free and fair elections with giving Taliban an appropriate share in government. Only this type of a setup would steer the Afghan peace process from troubled waters to safe shores.

The writer is a columnist, historian and international political and security analyst. He can be reached at Asadhussainma@yahoo.com