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

Peace Talks Suspended, Taliban will Wait and See

All the hopes about settling the Afghan conflict through table talks died on Thursday march 15, 2012 when the Taliban in a statement said they are walking away from talking with the US. The Taliban accused the US of alternating and ever-changing positions, and they said they would sit out the talks until the Americans clarify their stance on the issues concerned and until they show willingness in carrying out their promises instead of wasting time.

The statement by Taliban comes at times when in February, US soldiers burnt Islamic books including Holy Qur'an at Bagram airbase that was accompanied by violent protests across Afghanistan and resulted in the deaths of dozens of Afghans. At least five Americans were also killed in this connection – called revenge by Taliban. The Taliban have also announced to avenge the Sunday killing of 16 Afghans by an American soldier in Kandahar.

Definitely, if the Taliban leadership continues the process of negotiation with the US, it would be difficult for them to respond the feelings of their fighters who are quite furious over Holy Qur'an burning and killing of Afghan civilians. The connection between Taliban's statement and the two recent incidents cannot be ruled out.

At the same time, Afghan government and its international backers are moving towards the direction which is greatly beneficial to the Taliban. President Karzai has urged the US to immediately withdraw its forces from villages and remote regions of Afghanistan, end night operations and transfer the US administrated prisons to Afghan control.

Meanwhile, the US and its allies have announced they will end their combat role as early as mid of 2013 and completely pull their force out of Afghanistan by the end of 2014. So, it would be fair for Taliban to wait until the time when they can overthrow the Kabul government, withdraw attention from table talks and focus on resisting against NATO and Afghan troops.

As has been said time and again, the Taliban misses the willingness to end the war in Afghanistan by simply starting negotiating with Afghan and US authorities. It would be a waste of time to call them friends and brothers and be optimistic about a positive change in them.