The story of talks about talks with Taliban and their office in Qatar, like the militant group itself, has become a suspense fiction, taking new turns and twists every other day. Earlier last year when Taliban had agreed to directly talk with Americans, some of their representatives were sent to Doha and rounds of meetings were held. However, it broke down. But reportedly Taliban officials remained there, and later participated in the intra-Afghan meeting in Chantilly, France. The representatives who attended the meeting had reportedly joined from Doha. But now once again, Qatari media has reported new arrivals of Taliban officials.
Meanwhile, the Government says it has finalized an agreement with the Qatar regarding the legal status of the Taliban office, which should only be used for the purpose of peace talks, not as fund-raising source of propaganda. The agreement will be renewed each six months. If the Taliban do not agree to talk with the Afghan Government, their office will be closed.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Janan Musazai says Taliban leadership has shown willingness for talks. But Taliban spokesman denies and strongly rejects any possibility of talk with Kabul Government as long as foreign troops remain in Afghanistan. On the other hand, the release of Taliban prisoners from Pakistan is another mystery in this fictional story. Afghan officials do not know their whereabouts, and Pakistan says it cannot directly push those released for talks with the Kabul Government.
Like their bet on Taliban willingness, our Foreign Ministry also ‘hopes’ Pakistan would convince the Taliban for direct talks with the Kabul government. Janan Musazai says with the release of the Taliban prisoners, Pakistan has started taking ‘practical steps’ to facilitate direct talks. What kind of facilitation is it that the Afghan Government does not know about locations of all those Taliban released, more than 20, so far. When Pakistan says it cannot guarantee Taliban’s willingness for talks, what if they end up back to insurgency? Then the exercise of High Peace Council efforts to get them released will go in vain, rather backfire.
Foreign Ministry is asking Islamabad to release the prisoners in ‘coordination’ with the Afghan Government. But so far they don’t know whereabouts of all those released. According to a latest report in Newsweek, some of those in Doha have been issued Pakistani passports. The Government is actually out of loop completely. This meaningless exercise will take us nowhere.