- Special US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad on the move, again
The ‘forever’ Afghan war, which has dragged on for forty years with varying degrees of intensity, changing policies and faces, is hopefully approaching its denouement, not due to military victory by any side, but dawning hope of a sustainable peace settlement. US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, who was in Moscow on April 25 attending the tri-partite moot on Afghanistan (with Russia and China), arrived in Islamabad Monday (besides senior US diplomat Alice Wells), and held further talks on Afghan reconciliation process, regional security and calibrating awry Pak-US ties. Khalilzad has embarked on another whirlwind tour of Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Qatar, Russia and United Kingdom to further narrow down differences between the antagonists, on possible ceasefire, conditional withdrawal of US-NATO forces, Taliban assurances of zero tolerance of terror groups in areas under its control which might threaten the US or regional countries, and facilitating all-important intra-Afghan dialogue, with due participation of wary Afghan politicians, minorities and civil society. Though the multiple permutations and computations make an immediate breakthrough in such talks somewhat optimistic, never before were the stars of peace so auspicious, nor the earthly ground realities of reconciliation so favourable, as they are at the present moment. It is vital that the various stakeholders show flexibility and seize this unique and historic opportunity to end the devastating war, as there is no brilliant Plan ‘B’.
A notable success of the recent Moscow tri-partite caucus lay in the US and Russia overlooking their geo-political rivalries and appearing to stand on the same page regarding the basic framework of the Afghan peace process, though this welcome harmony will possibly be tested when the time comes for guaranteeing a future accord. The Taliban also made ‘commitments’ against ISIS and Al-Qaeda. War-weariness has taken its toll on all antagonists, the US has abandoned its delusion of a swift blitzkrieg victory, China and Russia are hyper-active, and PM Imran Khan also recently reiterated Pakistan’s strict non-interference in Afghan internal affairs, even calling on Taliban to abandon ‘Operation Fath’, their spring offensive. All concerned countries should spare a thought for the Afghan people’s ‘endless night’ and help ease their agonies. And that goes for devious India and vengeful, US–hounded Iran too.