Working together for a peaceful and thriving Afghanistan
After burning like hell since the Russian invasion in late 1970s, Afghanistan and its people now yearn for peace and development. After the Soviet war, Afghanistan successfully defeated the US-led western forces with resilience and determination. Since no party has been able to win entirely since the Soviet forces left, it’s time for Afghanistan to settle down and stop the infighting because the people of Afghanistan deserve a better life.
However, one must keep it in mind that peace comes at a cost which all warring groups and factions should be ready to pay. This cost is paid in the form of tolerance, vision, sacrifice and compromise with a futuristic view. It is time diplomacy is given a chance and hawks are pushed back so that the youth of Afghanistan could be have their due rights.
One needs to understand that mere rhetoric, accusations and passing the buck to others won’t help the Afghan leadership, rather it should engage with all the relevant parties of the conflict through backchannels followed by formal dialogue.
The damage done to the Afghan nation by the decades-old war is huge. Moreover, Dr Ghani has also to deal with the heavy baggage left by his predecessor, Hamid Karzai, who made every effort before leaving the presidential palace to keep Afghanistan unstable.
It is good to see that almost all its neighbours and world powers are trying to help the Afghan government and the warring factions to sort their differences. However, irresponsible statements and emotional approach will not help the cause.
President Dr Ashraf Ghani has an image of a statesman and since his election to the top slot he has proved himself worthy of his office despite his illness, shortage of requisite funds and shattered economy.
However, the recent strong statements by Dr Ghani against Pakistan reflect how much pressure he is facing from his coalition partner Abdullah Abdullah and the people in streets who want him to deliver.
In my view, it would be wrong to expect that Dr Ghani would be able to deliver peace in anytime soon. Successive Taliban attacks across Afghanistan and the fall of many districts to Taliban have opened a lid on the anti-Pakistani sentiments in Afghanistan.
One needs to understand that mere rhetoric, accusations and passing the buck to others won’t help the Afghan leadership, rather it should engage with all the relevant parties of the conflict through backchannels followed by formal dialogue
This internal pressure from Afghan coalition is proving unmanageable for Dr Ghani. Mullah Akhtar Mansour, the new leader of Afghan Taliban, is making every effort to assert his authority over his adversaries and to the Afghan government. He wants to prove that the Taliban movement is as potent as it was under his predecessor Mullah Mohammad Omar. The Taliban are asserting themselves so as they could go into the dialogue from a position of strength.
On the other hand, the Afghan government’s assertion from Pakistan to ensure a ceasefire with Taliban is not only unrealistic but it also reflects the fragility of the Afghan army. Moreover, it seems that there is a greatly exaggerated perception about Pakistan’s influence on Afghan Taliban.
The recent dialogue held at Murree hills between the Afghan government and Taliban representatives has also reinforced this impression among the Afghan leadership which is overstated.
Pakistan also shares the responsibility for creating such an impression as the assurances given by Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif for immediate peace talks compelled Dr Ghani to believe that Pakistan had a total sway over the Taliban. Moreover, it is a fact that the Taliban in the past never agreed to talk to Afghan government but within a few weeks of this assurance, they did.
The truth is that Pakistan does not control Afghan Taliban. It may enjoy some trust of the Taliban and using that it may be able to get them to talk with the Afghan government but cutting a deal is solely up to both parties of the conflict. Pakistan cannot influence dialogue process.
However, there is no possibility of immediate dialogue as the Afghan Taliban are passing through a leadership transition. Some differences have already cropped up within the militants over the leadership question. The Afghan leadership, on the other hand, wants Pakistan to at least push the Taliban for a ceasefire if immediate talks are not possible.
Apparently, the chances of a breakthrough in Afghan peace dialogue are remote. There is a huge gulf between the demands and goals of the Afghan government and the Taliban. Moreover, there are serious questions over the training, capacity and abilities of the Afghan security forces to hold their areas after US forces left.
Enters China to the chess-board. Chinese leadership, for all its reasons, had a limited role in Afghanistan in the recent past and the Chinese interests were limited to security of their economic assets in Afghanistan. With the launching of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the Chinese thinking has changed and now China is a major stakeholder in the efforts of peace in the South Asia region.
There has been no single world power which enjoyed the trust of all the three key players of the conflict: Afghan Taliban, Pakistan and Afghan government, but China seems to pull this off.
“We don’t take guns to other sovereign nations like other big powers. We only take development and work for peace whichever sovereign nation we go. We believe in respecting sovereignty of friendly states and offer win-win situation to our friends” a Chinese official
Each of the world powers has pressed for their own agendas in Afghanistan while China is unique as it has no wish list or agenda in Afghanistan other than peace. Fully realising that the success of the CPEC is interlinked with peace in Pakistan and Afghanistan where it has its strategic interests, peace in the Af-Pak region is important to China as well.
In a recent interaction with this scribe, a senior Chinese official said that China has was encouraging Dr Ghani to offer Taliban a reasonable share in the Afghan government and the parliament.
China in turn would offer huge funds for development with no match to the past foreign investments in Afghanistan’s history.
“We are ready to offer China a huge part of our development budget which would be unprecedented in Afghanistan’s history,” the Chinese official said, adding that while world powers invaded smaller countries, China would never do it.
“We don’t take guns to other sovereign nations like other big powers. We only take development and work for peace whichever sovereign nation we go. We believe in respecting sovereignty of friendly states and offer win-win situation to our friends,” the official added.
It is unfortunate to note that India is again playing a dirty game in Afghanistan by spreading money among some militants to help scuttle the dialogue process. Ajit Doval is greatly using his contacts to create misunderstandings between Presidential palace and Dr Abdullah Abdullah. Both the leaders must remain cautious to such conspiracies which would not only harm both the leaders but it would also add to the sufferings of the Afghan people.
All stakeholders need to rise above petty personal and ethnic differences and work together for a peaceful and thriving Afghanistan for the sake of their future generations.
