Daily Times

Buried deep beneath headlines about the coronavirus came news of yet more deaths in Afghanistan. The government accuses the Taliban of staging an attack in Logar province, bordering Kabul, on Wednesday in which nine Afghan soldiers were killed. Though the Taliban have not yet taken responsibility, which they are usually pretty quick to do, the attack comes on the heels of President Ghani’s appeal to all insurgents to cease fire because of the coronavirus. Surely it would be the gravest injustice committed against the Afghan people if they are made to face the onslaught of the coronavirus in addition to the never ending war. Already the country has noting of the sort of infrastructure needed to deal with such an outbreak. The average Afghan, who already effectively lives in conditions from centuries in the past, must not be tested any further.

Yet there are also other reasons for people from all around to wish an end to this war as soon as possible. US Special Envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, who spearheaded America’s talks with the Taliban over the last two years, was not in the region this week because he wanted the average Afghan to live better. The Americans are just as desperate for this ugly chapter to finally end. And, for pretty obvious reasons, they need it done before their election in November. With the coronavirus literally killing and eleven-year bull run in their market, the Trump administration is on an urgent hunt for a dose of good news for the public. That is why Washington completely broke from its policy of almost two decades to talk directly to the Taliban. And they did it to the extent of completely ignoring not just the advice but also the existence of the legitimate Afghan government.

Pakistan, too, could not want this war to end soon enough. It has brought nothing but trouble and misery to both sides of the Durand Line for almost 20 years. Many tens of thousands of people have died needlessly. And now, if the coronavirus gets out of control just because the war prevented everybody from doing anything about it, how would anybody’s interests be served? The war must now end. It’s already too late in the cycle of this war for the parties to be actively fighting. That is why all of them were already posturing towards peace. Now that process must be accelerated. There has never been a better opportunity of achieving what practically everybody has wanted for a long time. *