The Taliban continue spilling the blood of Afghan combatants and non-combatants alike and have intensified their attacks as the US troops have started withdrawing from the country. Reeling from the heavy casualties of their fighters, the Taliban target civilians and carry out attacks on schools. They also target public infrastructures and power lines.
The Taliban seek to continue their acts of violence and destruction. They kill the people and destroy public infrastructures including roads, schools, hospitals, power plants, etc. They have never respected the international humanitarian law as they targeted people as well as civilian properties indiscriminately. The Taliban’s acts of violence are contrary to Islamic tenets, moral values, national laws, and international instruments. If they continue the tug-of-war, they will be the loser.
Afghan ordinary people, civil society activists, Islamic clerics, political parties and the government all have called on the Taliban on multiple occasions to stop violence and bloodshed and declare ceasefire, however, the Taliban turned a deaf ear to the public demands and continued spilling their blood.
With the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan, the Taliban have resumed their spring offensive, tacitly though, and intensified their attacks. Their offensive attacks have been pushed back by Afghan soldiers and Special Forces, which inflicted heavy casualties on the Taliban fighters. Sustaining heavy casualties, the Taliban may have understood that they will not win through military deal.
Meanwhile, if the Taliban do not reduce their violence, the world will support Afghanistan, which will undermine the Taliban both politically and militarily. US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad said that “there was strong consensus within both the regional and international community against any effort by the Taliban to pursue a military takeover. Only a negotiated settlement can end over 40 years of war in Afghanistan.”
In his recent statement, US State Secretary Antony Blinken said, “We are pulling our forces out of Afghanistan, we are not withdrawing. We are not leaving. We are remaining deeply engaged when it comes to supporting Afghanistan – economically, development assistance, humanitarian, supporting its security forces. We’re staying in the game.”  The aforementioned statements show that the Biden administration is seeking not to repeat the political blunder of 1980s, which led to civil unrest. The Taliban were supposed to reduce violence or declare ceasefire after the withdrawal of US troops. However, their recent escalation of violence indicates that they are not seeking peace but power. Through their intensified attacks, they also want to say that they gained victory over the world super power. The start of withdrawal process has also emboldened the Taliban’s fighters.
It is believed that the Taliban are making great error through intensifying their attacks against the people and the government for few reasons. First, the war is not winnable.
The more the Taliban intensify their attacks, the more casualties they will sustain. They are never able to collapse a government which has been built through the support of the people as well as international community within the last couple of decades. The current government is not comparable to that of three decades before. Afghanistan has strong military forces and equipment.
There are trained soldiers, air forces and Special Forces. Second, the republic state has the support of the public. In other words, the Taliban are not comparable with Mujahidin. The support of the people are with the government. On the contrary, the Taliban are known as pariahs. If the Taliban continue violence and bloodshed, the people are most likely to pick guns against the group as they did so in some districts. Third, if the Taliban do not reduce violence, they will lose their political recognition, given so far.
They will be marginalized politically and lose all the concessions they gained up to now.
The Taliban have to stop making mistake through continuing their military actions. They will no more get concessions through military means but will trigger public anger.
It is believed that if the Taliban really daydream about the collapse of the government, religious leaders and clerics of both the Sunni and Shiite are likely to issue fatwa of public jihad against the Taliban and call it an obligation on all men in Afghanistan to fight against the group.  In such a case, the Taliban will be dismantled soon. It is time for regional and global stakeholders to push the Taliban to stop violence and bloodshed and find a negotiated settlement through returning to the peace table.
As foreign forces are preparing to withdraw from the country, the Taliban’s narrative of “jihad” is ended and there is no justification for their acts of violence in an Islamic country. The Taliban are also weakened ideologically, and they are unable to justify their violence by religious tenets.