Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Thursday, March 28th, 2024

Need for a Revived Will to Defeat

It is now clear that Afghan government and international community are willing to negotiate with the Taliban if they agree to renounce violence, break with Al-Qaeda and other terrorist elements in the region and accept the constitution. Reconciliation under these conditions are unlikely to happen because the Taliban militants will not easily surrender and they believe that these pre-conditions are tantamount to giving up, which they will never do.

On their part, they have set the withdrawal of international forces from the country as their prerequisite to entering into the negotiation process.

The assassination of Professor Burhanuddin Rabbani, the chairman of High Peace Council led to change in Afghan government's policy to consider Pakistan as the party to the process of talks to bring an end to the protracted conflict and war.

President Karzai in his address to the nation said that his government would begin to talk to Pakistan directly because the Taliban and other insurgent groups did not have the authority and power to independently negotiate with Afghan government.

But president Karzai did not explain how his government would negotiate with Pakistan and what steps it would take to make the process successful.

On Friday, October 14, 2011, the US embassy in Kabul issued a statement saying,"The Taliban and other insurgents must renounce violence, (and) they must abandon their alliance with al-Qaeda and must agree to abide by the laws and constitution of Afghanistan, including respecting the rights of women and ethnic minorities."

If Afghan government and international community continue to insist on these conditions and the Taliban on other hand continue to carry out terrorist attacks across the country and into the capital, Kabul, the effort for peace will yield no result.

Unfortunately, Afghan government and international community are not putting enough military pressure on the insurgent outfits to compel them to join peace and normal life.

Without this military pressure, the opportunity for improving security situation will be lost and Afghan people will continue to lose their lives in the hands of terrorists and cruel insurgents.

The current situation of security must be turned around and that needs to be done through military pressure. In fact, there is a need for revived will to defeat the militants.