Will Afghanistan descend into civil war? This is what the doomsayers are projecting but the manner in which the Taliban have conducted themselves so far gives hope that fighting, if any, will not be large scale and the resistance group would be able to control it.
Unlike distant powers, Afghanistan’s neighbours, especially Pakistan, Iran, China and Russia have a huge stake in a stable and peaceful country. They should assist the Afghans to come to a suitable arrangement in which all ethnic groups are represented and do not feel alienated.
Soundly defeated militarily by the Taliban, the US warlords have not given up on mischief-making. They are setting up a trap for Pakistan even as they retreat in disgrace from Afghanistan.
Intra-Afghan talks started in Doha, Qatar on September 12 but they are not making much progress. The Taliban and the US-backed Afghan government representatives have very different perspectives on the future set-up in Afghanistan.
America’s list of enemies is not only long, it keeps growing. It is America’s systemic need. By conjuring up fear of real or imagined enemies, the US Deep state keeps diverting trillions of dollars from development toward armaments to further enrich the oligarchs
Will Afghanistan finally have peace after 40 years of war and bloodshed? This will depend on whether various Afghan factions can accommodate ethnic groups with divergent interests.
The US and its NATO allies do not give up on mischief. They may withdraw all forces from Afghanistan but their destabilization activities will not cease.
The four-point agreement signed between the Taliban and the US in Doha, Qatar on February 29, 2020 was remarkable in more ways than one. If there is a single take-away from the agreement, it is that another superpower has had its nose rubbed in the dust by the rag-tag band of Afghan Taliban.
To resist foreign occupiers is a fundamental right recognized in international law yet colonial occupiers miss no opportunity to denigrate those that struggle for their basic rights.
Donald Trump’s cancellation of talks with the Taliban had nothing to do with the killing of one American soldier; it had everything to do with the Taliban’s refusal to meet him before an agreement was signed.