The grandly named High Peace Council which is due from Kabul today hasnt really achieved much since it was formed last October. That is but understandable. Whats a year of attempts at peace in the face of a decade-long insurgency? But it does appear that the said council wont be making much of a headway in the near future either.
Led as it might be by former Afghan president Burhanuddin Rabbani, the council simply isnt empowered enough to make much headway. Some, however, would say that that is the basis of its appeal. Figures like incumbent President Hamid Karzai would be absolutely unacceptable to the Afghan Taliban. But the truth of the matter might be that, in the larger scheme of things, perhaps even he isnt empowered enough, with command only over the flimsy militia of the Afghan National Army and the equally corrupt gendarme types of the Afghan National Police. The real players of this game are easily identifiable and they are nowhere in the positive framework of the state of Afghanistan. The real deal is between the American forces, the Taliban and Islamabad (its twin city, basically).
Within these players, the game has yet to be changed despite any peace overtures by civilian setups. The local military establishments Indo-centric paradigm, coupled with its eye on the USs end game in Afghanistan which doesnt look all too bright for the Afghan government, might cause it to hedge its bets. On the other hand, the Americans, with their policy of prodding the Karzai regime to talk to the Taliban while asking Pakistan to eliminate those found in its own tribal areas is another stumbling block. And last, but certainly not the least, are the Taliban themselves. Retrogressive, medievalist, misogynistic and thus, ultimately evil. But the only side which, at least in the case of the Afghan Taliban, doesnt seem ruffled, knows what it wants and is clear. For the other two sides to stop their smoke-and-mirror bit and show some candour would do the peace effort a lot of good.
