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The many pitfalls of the new US proposal for Afghan peace

Biden administration’s new draft proposal fails to address many fundamental issues
stalling the Afghan peace process.

Mohsin Dawar
Mohsin Dawar is an elected member of Pakistan's national parliament and a leader of the Pashtun
Tahaffuz Movement (PTM).

31 Mar 2021

Afgan President Ashraf Ghani, center, meets with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, center left, and their
delegations, at the presidential palace in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, March 21, 2021. Austin arrived in Kabul on his
rst trip to Afghanistan as Pentagon chief, amid swirling questions about how long American troops will remain in
the country. (Presidential Palace via AP)

As violence continues to escalate in Afghanistan, a new draft peace plan proposed

by the United States – calling for an interim administration to replace the current
government, ceasefire, and a UN-sponsored conference of all regional
stakeholders – has evoked strong reactions from both the Afghan government
and independent experts.

When the Biden administration came into power in the US, there was some hope
that it will revisit the Afghan peace process, which was perceived by many as an
attempt to inject the Taliban into the Afghan state system, contrary to the will
and wishes of the people of Afghanistan.

The peace process was also much criticised because it sidelined the government
of Afghanistan in many matters, and allowed for the US and other international
powers to negotiate directly with the Taliban.

The Biden administration’s new proposal does very little to dispel these notions.
Afghanistan has come a long way since the Bonn conference in 2001. The Afghan
civil society has flourished significantly in the last 20 years, and showed that it
has the potential to craft a better future for the country if it is provided with the
right tools and opportunities. Despite endless statements to the contrary,
however, the Afghan people have never been given the opportunity to fully take
control of their future.

The US and regional powers have long been claiming that only an “Afghan-led
and Afghan-owned” process can be successful in bringing sustainable peace and
stability to Afghanistan. However, these claims appear to be little more than lip
service – over the years, all external players who have a stake in Afghanistan have
tried to impose their own version of peace on the country, driven by their
agendas and priorities, without considering the will of the Afghan people.

The new proposal signals that under the Biden administration’s leadership,
external actors will continue to try and impose their will on the people of
Afghanistan.
Another problem with the new US proposal is its apparent insistence on putting
the burden of achieving peace solely on the Afghan government.

Peace talks can succeed only if all involved parties act in good faith, and
demonstrate their commitment to peace not only with their words but also their
actions on the ground. However, target killings, bomb blasts and violence
continued unabated since the beginning of the Afghan peace process. The Taliban
did not stop using violence as a tool to maintain and expand its influence over the
country.

The Taliban is unwilling to turn the page on violence because it is the group’s
defining feature. Despite this, the new US proposal, like others before it, expects
the Afghan government to assume responsibility for the stalling of peace talks,
and make concessions to an inherently violent group that continues to kill
innocent Afghan civilians on a daily basis.

Another fundamental issue with the new US proposal is that it fails to address the
complicated relationship Afghanistan’s neighbours, chiefly its eastern neighbour
Pakistan, have with the Taliban.

Over the years, Pakistan has carried out several military operations against
armed groups, including the Taliban in the former Federally Administered Tribal
Areas (FATA). The region, which has been merged with the province of Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa in 2018, has long been used as a base by the Taliban, the Haqqani
network and other local and international armed groups, including al-Qaeda.
While the state of Pakistan claims that it has been successful in its military
operations, the region remains volatile as groups allied with the Taliban continue
to not only exist and operate in these areas within Pakistan, but also carry out
operations like before across the border in Afghanistan.

Pakistan’s preference to turn a blind eye to, and at times tacitly support, certain
actions of the Taliban in an effort to expand its influence in Afghanistan and the
wider region is a very well-established and documented fact, commonly referred
to as Pakistan’s “strategic depth policy”. Pakistan’s military has said that it has
shifted its policy on Afghanistan, and is no longer following the “strategic depth
policy”, but there has not been much indication of this on the ground. The Quetta
Shura, the Haqqani network, and other important forums of the Taliban continue
to be based in Pakistan. Despite all this, the international community, including
the US, continues to give Pakistan a significant role to play in Afghanistan.

This has come at a cost mostly for the Pashtuns who live in Pakistan, especially
for the Pashtuns of the former FATA region who have suffered greatly due to the
actions of the Taliban and the Pakistani government over the decades. They have
witnessed violence, similar to the levels experienced by Afghans, at the hands of
the Taliban. Many members of Pakistan’s security forces have also fallen victim
to armed groups affiliated with the Taliban that are active in the former FATA
region. The state of Pakistan, which is supposed to protect its citizens, however,
has looked the other way, accepting the loss of innocent lives in the thousands as
necessary collateral damage.

It would be essential for any proposed framework for peace in Afghanistan to

address the significant issue of dismantling the vast infrastructure and bases of
the Taliban in Pakistan. As long as the Taliban continues to be used by
Afghanistan’s neighbours and some of the regional powers to further their own
interests, sustainable peace will be difficult to achieve. The will of the people of
Afghanistan and the sovereignty of the state will not only need to be taken into
account but will need to be respected for any hopes of embarking on a
meaningful struggle for peace – for Afghanistan as well as the region.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not
necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

Mohsin Dawar
Mohsin Dawar is an elected member of Pakistan's national parliament and a leader of the Pashtun
Tahaffuz Movement (PTM).

Mohsin Dawar is an elected member of Pakistan's national parliament and a leader of the Pashtun
Tahaffuz Movement (PTM).

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