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

Who is the “Enemy”?

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Who is the “Enemy”?

After a decade of war in Afghanistan against terrorism for which thousands of lives have been sacrificed and billion of dollars utilized and that was intended to fight Taliban and Al-Qaida as Al-Qaida was given refuge by Taliban; US Vice President Joe Biden now mentions that Taliban are not the US's enemy. This clearly shows how much desperate US is to extract itself out of the war without paying much attention to the very basic roots of controversy.

However, his statement is feared to depict contrary to what US is pursuing in Afghanistan. He mentioned in his statement, "Look, the Taliban per se is not our enemy. That's critical… There is not a single statement that the (US) President has ever made in any of our policy assertions that the Taliban is our enemy because it threatens US interests. If, in fact, the Taliban is able to collapse the existing government, which is cooperating with us in keeping the bad guys from being able to do damage to us, then that becomes a problem for us. So there's a dual track here."

Let's suppose Taliban are not US enemy, but this fact is as clear as crystal that US is in a war in Afghanistan – even Joe Biden would not neglect it. So, if US is in a war in Afghanistan it must have an enemy because you can not have a war without the opposing force or an enemy.

If Taliban are not the enemy, who the US forces are fighting in Afghanistan? Who are the other possible parties that US can fight with? The most probable answer would be Afghan government! But that is not actually what Joe Biden wanted to say; unfortunately his statement means so.

He has now clarified even that his statement has been misunderstood or misinterpreted. Nevertheless, it is difficult to have other favorable interpretations from his statement. If you reject Taliban as enemy, it is important you should define your enemy.

There is another interpretation possible from the statement. It is possible that Joe Biden might have wanted to say that Taliban, as a whole, are not US enemy and he might have pointed towards the ones who pursue insurgency. However, he could easily use the word "insurgents" for them.

Joe Biden in the statement mentioned above wants to explain a bit – "There is not a single statement that the (US) President has ever made in any of our policy assertions that the Taliban is our enemy because it threatens US interests." This suggests that Taliban is not US enemy because it threatens US interests.

Here at least his statement comes out of ambiguity a bit but does not succeed to say something very convincing as it is clear that US pursued the war in Afghanistan in order to put an end to terrorism and that terrorism has threatened the entire world, including the US, while Taliban have been greatly responsible for favoring in the country and around the world.

Thus it would be appropriate to say that Taliban, when pursuing and strengthening terrorism does affect the interests of the US. When Joe Biden says that Taliban are not enemy because they threaten US interests, he basically does not convince the audience in supporting the greater cause of the US in the overall process.

Moreover, in the quoted portion of the statement above he also emphasizes that 'there is not a single statement that the (US) President has ever made…', which is in fact mentioned to narrow the gap between the US and the Taliban.

In fact most of what Biden has mentioned is also for the same purpose – to narrow the gap between US and Taliban. It is not a secret now that reconciliation is on the way and may lead to a decisive stage.

The arrangements for the same are being made very quickly. Taliban office is being managed in Qatar and the Taliban leaders who have been confined by the US army are planned to be released in order to take the process towards a conclusion and US is able to extract itself out of the war in Afghanistan as it is turning very much notorious.

By having in mind the prospects of decisive peace process, it would be easier to analyze the statement of Joe Biden. However, it does, in no way, reduce its controversial status. Even if you want to have reconciliation or peace process, you can only have it once your enemies and friends are well-defined.

Even a reconciliation process would not proceed without an opposing party. If Taliban are not your enemy, whom to reconcile with! If Taliban are already your 'friend' (if 'not enemy'), what is the need of peace and reconciliation process! US on many occasions have been very much critical of the role of Pakistan in war against terrorism.

It has mentioned on many occasions that Pakistan has always had an ambiguous role in the war. One of the reasons of current tensions between both the countries is the same view. Unfortunately, US is also turning very much ambiguous in its role in the war. This will further make the war notorious for which, in fact, thousand lives have been sacrificed and billion of dollars spent.

Afghan Presidential office has welcomed the statement of Joe Biden to a great extent. In one of his statements, President Karzai has mentioned, "We are happy that America has announced that Taliban are not their enemy.

This will bring peace and stability to the people of Afghanistan." This statement further explains what Joe Biden wanted to say. Anyhow, it is difficult to presume, as US and Afghan authorities have presumed, that by calling Taliban 'friends' they would be able to achieve something worthwhile.

The demand of time is that Taliban should be considered as an 'opposing party' in the dialogue and they can only be befriended after the negotiations and that should be made conditional. US and Afghanistan can only befriend them once they agree to their (US and Afghanistan's) conditions for the negotiations.

Taliban can be the friends of US, Afghan government and Afghan people once they respect the constitution of Afghanistan, avoid militancy, respect the basic human rights and be a positive part of Afghan society; otherwise they will remain enemy - at least of Afghan people.

Dilawar Sherzai is the permanent writer of the Daily outlook Afghanistan. He can be reached at outlookafghanistan@gmail.com

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