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

Release of Taliban; Please Show the True Picture

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Release of Taliban; Please Show the True Picture

The tragic incident of Ghor is still resounding in the country and it has once again intensified the public criticism on the policy of President Karzai to release Taliban prisoners to win their confidence and bring them on the table of dialogue. In this incident, some militants stopped a passenger bus heading to Kabul from the province and sorted and separated 16 civilians who belonged to Hazara community and shot them brutally on the side of the road. These 16 people had no any affiliation with the foreign forces or the government and were neutral and their only crime was that they belonged to the Shia, Hazara community of the country. Militants let the other passengers to walk free. According to the survivors, the militants were Taliban and they had also recognized them as those recently freed from a prison in Ghor after a presidential decree. According to the police chief of the province, the group that shot dead the people was lead by Qari Rahmatullah and Mullah Farooq, both Taliban activists who were released from a prison in Ghor. Police chief claims that after their release from the prison, these two leaders have assembled a force of almost 2000 militants and are disrupting the peace of the province by carrying out attacks on security forces in all parts of the province.

When the news of the involvement of released Taliban was released on media, a violent public anger erupted not only against the militants for their brutal act but also against the Presidential Palace from where the orders of their release were issued. Many civil society activists had gathered in a public demonstration in Kabul to protest against the release of Taliban by the president. On the other hand, President Karzai defended the act of his government in his speech on the occasion of Eid and termed it as a part of policy to bring Taliban into the national stream of dialogue and negotiations. He also considered this very essential for building confidence between Taliban and the government. On the other hand, many experts view these acts of president as his efforts to leave his office with a positive impression on Taliban.

Throughout his tenure, Mr. Karzai also had a number of differences of view point with the foreign forces in the treatment of Taliban. Karzai many times criticized the night operations and warplane airstrikes against Taliban by foreign forces. Karzai was of the view that many innocent civilians are being killed in these attacks along with the actual criminals. When the foreign forces announced their exit and started transferring the prisons to the Afghan government, the process of the release of Taliban started by the Afghan government, mainly under the decree and orders of the president. Karzai was of the view that foreign troops had caught hundreds of innocent people under the suspicion of Taliban and put them behind the bars and treated them inhumanly. Karzai announced that his government will investigate the cases of these prisoners and they will be released if found innocent. According to the palace, the step was necessary due to the two important reasons. First and crucial was to decrease the public anger against the acts of foreign troops who had caught large number of innocent civilians and Afghan government was not in position to do anything in this regard. Second reason was given that government would like to bring Taliban on the table of negotiations and in this regard, first and foremost step was to build confidence between the two sides which was possible by releasing all the Taliban members who were never involved in militancy or criminal acts.

But these acts were also not acceptable both for the foreign troops and their governments and the civil society activists of the country. Due to the same disagreement, both our president and his foreign counterparts were found to be criticizing each other and the relations between Afghanistan and its foreign allies dropped to lowest levels at many different occasions.

According to the civil society members, the release of Taliban made no sense when they were captured by our security forces after giving much sacrifices and they feared the return of Taliban back into the battlefield. They termed these acts as ‘misdirected’ and could have never given the planned outcome. It also remains a fact that release of Taliban has not made any positive impact in improving the security conditions of the country.

However, the release of Taliban and other prisoners were never halted and even a presidential order was released on the occasion of Eid when compensation was given to the prison terms of some specific classes of prisoners. Civil society members are still much concerned as how much transparently these compensations would be put into practice and it might be another reason to release some more Taliban from our prisoners.

The reasons given by both the sides seem to be carrying weight. No doubt, large numbers of people were put into prisons by the foreign troops on the basis of doubt and without any tangible evidence or proof. Proper investigation and then the release of such innocent prisoners was the utmost responsibility of the government and it came under the responsibility of government to protect its citizens and uphold their civil rights of freedom and movement. Similarly, president Karzai has repeatedly used the terms of ‘Afghan Taliban’ and ‘Foreign Taliban’ or ‘Foreign Militants’ and has continually requested the Afghan Taliban to join the national solidarity and not become a tool and puppet in the hands of foreign militants or Taliban. Karzai has also repeatedly called them as ‘our angry brothers’ who need to be dealt with fairly. 

But with all these facts, the points of civil society activists also carry a lot of weight. They criticize the policy of Karzai to pardon and negotiate with those who have brutally killed hundreds and thousands of Afghans in these years of Karzai’s rule. According to them, the constitution of the country requires that these culprits should be properly tried in the courts of the country and given proper punishment if found guilty. On the other hand, no logical mechanism to distinguish between the local and foreign Taliban and the innocent or guilty Taliban has been developed yet. In this regard, the presidential palace is also silent to give any clear cut answer. In all these years, large numbers of Taliban prisoners have been released but the palace has failed to provide the media with the reports of investigation that should have proved them to be innocent and put into prison by mistake by the foreign or Afghan troops. On the other hand, it is also a legal issue as if president has any such constitutional authority and power to release prisoners from the prisons of the country and if there is any, what are limitations and necessary conditions for doing so.

However, this controversial issue is not going to end here because Karzai is still defending his acts and policy. The loyal and responsible members of the society extend this request to the palace to take some steps in this regard before releasing anymore Taliban in future. The investigation reports showing their innocence should be made public and they should not be released in dubious circumstances. If this policy of government continued without any proper justification, it may not only harm the national solidarity and unity of thought but also demoralize our security forces who are sacrificing their lives and blood for protecting the country and catching these militants. God forbidden, if morale and interest of our security forces diminished from their services, it would be very difficult to protect this country of large number of internal and external threats.  

Muhammad Rasool Shah works as Academic Coordinator at Barakat Int’l School, Kabul. He can reached at muhammadrasoolshah@gmail.com.

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