Prime Minister Imran Khan is right to warn, in an oped published in the Washington Post, that a hasty exit from Afghanistan would be very unwise; as would be setting unrealistic timelines. The PM perhaps deliberately chose a mainstream American publication to express these views since it is the US government, of all concerned stakeholders, that wants to get out of the war and Afghanistan the quickest. And that is because of the US presidential election in a little over a month’s time. Sure, wrapping up the war pretty much and getting the Afghan government and the Taliban leadership to begin peace negotiations is enough to show the electorate that the job is more or less done. But the more on ground progress there is to show by the time of the actual vote the better the current administration would look to the people. The PM was also right to remind everybody that, welcome as the peace negotiations are, the hard work has actually just begun, and there are naturally going to be phases where progress will be painfully slow. But, as he said, “a bloodless deadlock on the negotiating table is infinitely better than a bloody stalemate on the battlefield.” And an example of how easily progress can be stalled came just a few days ago when the Afghan government expressed reservations about some of the prisoners that were to be released and the Taliban simply refused to talk anymore till their demand was met. Going forward, more such issues will come up and all parties will need to be flexible. Pushing things ahead at this point, that too because of political compulsions in Washington, risks undoing much of the good work rather quickly. A war that lasted 19 years, not to mention the successive wars that came before this one, left deep scars and bitterness that will take more than a few days or weeks to sort out. Then there is the nature of the constitution and composition of the future government that must also be agreed upon. Everybody should realise then that patience will be key in seeing this thing through successfully. It is in the interest of not just Afghanistan but the whole region that this war is settled as amicably as possible. The return of violence and terrorism can destabilise the continent and nobody wants that to happen ever again. *