Dialogue has long been used to resolve the issues nicely and in majority of the cases, it has been termed to be the best and perfect way to bring an end to a conflict. In some rare cases, a military operation or similar treatment was found inevitable but except these, dialogue is the phenomenon which is the choice of all. Dialogue’s ability to bring the warring factions together and make them agree upon reasonable terms and conditions can never be compared to any other mean of conflict solving. In the same way, it is the cheapest way of resolving conflicts when both the sides agree to take the positive road and avoid the way of destruction. But as it is said that, democracy is both the best and worst form of government because if it is utilized with all its spirit, it can prove to be the best form of government by people, aimed at the protection of the rights of people but when it falls into wrong hands, it can be very fruitless and exhaust all the stakeholders and people would be the worst victims in this people’s rule. In the same way, when dialogue is not carried out with complete sincerity and dedication, it will be the process of betraying the people who pin their hopes with these dialogues while it would be eating away the energy and time of the parties involved in the dialogue.
Recent dialogues with Taliban leaders is not the first of its kind but it is for sure that, all the previous editions have not born any fruit and it would be unfair to be absolutely pessimistic about the fate of these dialogues but having a look at the previous experiences, it is not sure if the desired results will be obtained or not. What are the factors that determine the need for initiating dialogue with the militants? Some of the determinants could be militants’ destructive edge, their ideological influences, inability of the state and its security institutions to counter the threat, and the socio-economic and political implications of the terrorism. The state may consider all these, depending on the scale of the problem. Terrorism and extremism do not remain merely security issues once their drivers and motivating factors start getting justification in socio-cultural and ideological discourses.
No doubt, our security institutions are in best capable position to finish the terrorists (provided that their foreign sponsors should also be tackled with accordingly to chop down their support for the militants and extremists, both inside the country and outside its borders, deep in the training venues and other facilities established in the enemy lands) but it would be just like freezing the flu without treating the reasons that produce the flu on the first stage if the terrorists were eliminated while the support for them was not finished. There have been many occasions when the terrorist elements were almost chopped down right from their bud but the problem was able to survive and then multiply in number. Our government makes great hue and cry against the foreign support of militancy and having a look at the conditions, it looks that the government following the reign of President Karzai would also tread on the same path as there seems no tangible change in the scenario of foreign support and upbringing for the militancy responsible for the destruction within Afghanistan. It is a kind of factor that can be tackled on two different grounds; first by raising this problem on the international platforms and making the world realize the true face of those powers that protect their aims by the destruction of Afghan territory. Secondly; we can make our internal grip stronger so that we should be able to cut down the connections between the foreign hands and their internal parasites because without the support of someone from within the borders, no foreign power will be successful in its heinous intentions and clandestine plots.
Till now, Karzai government has worked hard to bring the problem of foreign intervention in Afghan problem on all the platforms including the UN but until and unless these claims are not made with some evident proofs, making the foreign powers agree with our point of view would be very difficult. Now, it depends on government and its security institutions as how they work to bring into international media the proofs of foreign intervention in the politics of Afghanistan.
Whatever the cause may be, either negative or positive, a movement or drive comes into existence and flourishes with some ideology and the more people become convinced of this ideology, the more they get support from them and make their work easy. When Taliban’s name was first heard of in early 90’s, they were perceived as a source to bring Sharia or Islamic Law within the country and rid the people of the culprits and criminals that were fighting for their aims in those days. Later on, the rule of Taliban proved to be much better comparing to the Mujahidin who had never kept any of their promises and who had all turned into groups; inflicting financial, physical and mental harm on the general public of Afghanistan. At the same time, for a country like Afghanistan where lack of modern education and general literacy made the people more closely attached to the religious institutes, such an ideology was a perfectly designed strategy as it addressed the minds of the majority. People of Afghanistan had got tired of fifteen years long civil war and they were eager to welcome anyone that could bring some peace and stability in their lives. In the beginning, people were very happy of their decision to welcome the Taliban but later on when a lot of criminals, foreign agents and other destructive factors joined their lines, people started losing hope. Such an arrangement could have been very useful in the short run but in long run, it was never going to be successful because it lacked the capability to govern the country as they were not much experienced in this regard and secondly, they were in the hands of their foreign Godfathers to work for their objectives. It was the reason why, every sound and rational man supported the elimination of Taliban regime in the country because they had not got the relief they were expecting of them.
After the restoration of democracy in the country, there was comparatively calmness but slowly and gradually, the foreign powers raised a new breed of extremists and terrorists but even then, majority of the people still believed that Taliban were present for a noble cause and they had their moral support. But the events that followed proved that they were working for their aims and were not interested in the general welfare of public. Beheading of innocents, road-side bombs, destruction of roads, dams and other objects of infrastructure greatly disappointed the people. At the same time, Afghan Army’s image has become more respectable in the eyes of public and they are taken to be a group of well-trained, well-equipped and devoted soldiers who shed their blood to protect their fellow countrymen. It is the reason why, we see that people no more believe and care about the terrorists and extremists that once used to be dear to them.
On the other hand, the chemistry of dialogue says that militants and aggressive powers will always hesitate to come on the table of dialogue because they would then be left without any option except to follow a rational and reasonable course which would tie their hands from carrying out terror activities.
Whatever maybe the results of Qatar dialogue with Taliban, it should be taken care that Afghan government should not miss any single chance to enhance the image of government’s sincerity and sacrifices of its institutions so that general perception of public about militancy should remain the same and there should not emerge any soft corner for those who have no soft corners for them.