Daily Times

Nobody expected the Afghan peace process to get off to a very fast start. And surely there would be stumbling blocks when two sides that have been mortal enemies for so long sit down to talk about not just living but also working together. Yet the pace of progress so far seems to have disappointed even those who expected it to take time. And the Americans, who were the principal force behind the sudden change of direction in the war towards peace, are particularly disappointed. It seems they are worried that talks without lowering the levels of violence in the country might turn out to be counter-productive. But since the Taliban are not the only ones fighting, and the Americans are still pretty active in the field of battle, and the skies above it, perhaps just blaming the Taliban might not get anybody anywhere if lasting peace is really what is desired.

And it’s not really the easiest thing to fault Taliban commanders on the ground. It was their sacrifices, after all, that turned the tide of the war almost one-and-a-half decades ago, and who can blame them for feeling a little left out since their leaders simply agreed to a truce? The world might know, rather feel, that the insurgents can never retake Kabul – so it’s best if everybody just sits down and talks about the future – but the fighters gaining ground and winning sympathy for so many years see their positions as more pivotal to the Taliban’s efforts than others might think. Hence, really, all the continued clashes up and down the already war-torn country.

And it would be unfair to Islamabad to expect it to solve all of Washington’s problems all the time in Afghanistan. It was something of a small miracle, actually, that the Pakistani side still had enough leverage with the Taliban to force them to the negotiating table. Otherwise the long years of the war, in which Pakistan was America’s ally, had really alienated the two sides and initially even the Pakistani military wasn’t too optimistic about the outcome of its efforts. Still, all parties must do everything possible to keep the intra-Afghan dialogue going in the right direction. *