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Afghanistan-Ghost War, Ghost Peace-Daily Times
Afghanistan-Ghost War, Ghost Peace-Daily Times
Afghan anger at the murder and mayhem unleashed on them and Dr Ghanis anger
at being double-crossed. Unless there is an immediate and verifiable change in
Pakistans policy of allowing sanctuary to the Afghan Taliban any change in Dr
Ghanis new geopolitical posture is extremely unlikely.
The Afghan people, parliament and intelligentsia have thrown their full weight behind
Dr Ashraf Ghani while that countrys chief executive, Dr Abdullah Abdullah, has
reiterated his presidents sentiments in a separate interview saying that he has seen
no evidence of Pakistan changing its tack. The problem is that the one-trick jihadist
pony that Pakistan backs is simply not capable of changing into a political outfit,
which could compete even in a primordial, collective decision-making process like a
tribal jirga let alone in an electoral democracy. The Kabul bombings indicate that the
new Taliban leadership is trying to remain relevant and assert itself against its
jihadist rivals as well as the Afghan people and the government through the only
means they know: violent terrorism. Both the Taliban and their patrons seem
oblivious of the diminishing political returns from these gruesome assaults. The
Afghan people are getting angrier rather than feeling terrorised. Influential voices
within Afghanistan are calling for their government to take the issue of Taliban
sanctuaries east of the Durand Line to the United Nations. And such robust
international diplomacy is what it may eventually boil down to.
Afghanistan does not have a military option and using any tit-for-tat proxies is a
patently bad idea that would gain little but cause loss of the moral high ground. Dr
Ashraf Ghani built a case for peace through what he described the concentric circles
engaging regional and then international powers. He may just have to use the same
template to internationalise the Taliban sanctuaries issue. China, India, Iran, Russia
and the Central Asian countries have no desire whatsoever for the Taliban or any
other jihadist outfit upending the democratic order in Kabul. Pakistans diplomatic
position is likely to become untenable even with China if the former cannot or does
not restrain the Taliban. The USs functionaries, especially its Department of State,
cannot play dumb endlessly. The State Departments spokespersons remarks, in the
wake of the Kabul attacks on how it is in the urgent interest of both countries to
eliminate safe havens and to reduce the operational capacity of the Taliban on both
sides of the border are patently disingenuous and create a false equivalence.
Major questions have arisen about the US knowing about but playing down Mullah
Omars presence and then death in Pakistan. The US letting a terrorist outfit keep
the appearance of a unified force under a figurehead, who was suspected dead, was
truly a weird way of prosecuting the war against the Taliban while the latter attacked
and killed US troops. The State Department can choose to eat out of the palm of
Pakistans hand but it certainly cannot tell Afghans to do that. The Murree peace
process that the US diplomats sat through was a dud; the ghost of Mullah Omar
could make war but certainly cannot make peace. To stop the cycle of ghost war and
ghost peace imposed upon Afghanistan the international community, including the
US, will have to hold Pakistans feet to the diplomatic fire. Dr Ashraf Ghani has an
uphill task ahead but his straight talk indicates he is not only gearing up for it but that
speech may also be his roadmap.
The writer can be reached at mazdaki@me.com and he tweets @mazdaki