Establishment of a peace commission, joint or in isolation, is not any panacea to the ills facing Afghanistan and it cannot provide that panacea either. It is important to address the root causes of the problems plaguing the country and whole region. It is also important to settle the conflicting regional interests in a way that is not putting one country against the other, and that is to the benefit of the people living in the region.
The ordinary people of the region have already suffered too much. There is a need to treat the hard-line militants as a common challenge and begin disconnecting with them. The extremist terrorists must also be squeezed for their thinking to kill those who do not subscribe to their ideology.
On Saturday's talk between president Karzai and Pakistani premier Yusuf Raza Gilani, the two leaders agreed to set up a joint Afghan-Pakistan commission to promote peace and stability in the region. There is really a need for genuine will to bring peace and stability to the region. There have been traditional Jirgas and other mechanisms to work for peace and prosperity in the two countries but they have not paid off and have failed to produce any substantial result in terms of brining and end to the suffering of the people of the two countries.
Afghan people continue to get killed, wounded, and kidnapped by the Taliban militants and other insurgent groups. The international forces are also losing blood on a regular basis. Just on Sunday, April 17, 2011, three NATO-led ISAF soldiers were killed in roadside bombings in southern Afghanistan.
Afghan people suffer even more regularly as the militants and insurgents have increased their terrorist activities. It is not clear whether all these commissions and councils of peace will bring any end to these sufferings or not. To Afghan people, it is not clear how long the ongoing game will continue to be played out. But it is to be mentioned that a news story about capturing of a Taliban commander does bring a sigh of relief for those Afghans who want the country to be moving forward and not have a relapse.