Since elected as President of the United States of America, President Trump has a totally different approach towards the conflicts such as in Afghanistan to end war in Afghanistan but recently he took the initiative to engage directly or indirectly with these groups to end such war in Afghanistan and in Middle East. 

The Afghan conflict has been going on for almost 40 years with no foreseen end in the near future. In 2014 the USA with the support of the Qatar government agreed open an office for Taliban to start a negotiation but because of the issues of the name of the office (Islamic Emirate of Taliban) and raising their flag on the day of inauguration resulted in the opposition of President Karzai and the process of the peace negotiations suspended.

After President Trump, publically and directly approaching Pakistan in the Afghan peace issue, President Trump appointed, former US Ambassador to Afghanistan and Iraq Dr Zalmai Khalilzad, as his special envoy in the Afghanistan reconciliation process. Since his appointment Dr Khailzad, took a collective approach toward the Afghan conflict. He has started visited all the neighbouring and regional countries in order for them to feel part of the process as well as directly negotiating with the Taliban representatives in Qatar. As Taliban have been always supported by the Taliban and its believed that their leadership is still there, so the pressure and may be some benefits which might have been promised to Pakistan by the US, Pakistan seems to be convincing Taliban to at least negotiate with the US.

In the end of last year Dr Khalilzad had few meeting with the Taliban representatives in Qatar followed by visiting the neighbouring countries and  briefing the Afghan government, as the Taliban seems to be more keen to negotiate with the US rather than the Afghan government which has provoked the anger of the President Ghani as well. In January this year Dr Khalilzad had a six days meeting with the Taliban representatives in Qatar which has raised the hope of finally end Afghan war but at the same time it has raised the concerns of many others. Both US and Taliban indicated that there has been developments on key issues such as the withdrawal of the foreign forces from Afghanistan and preventing international terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda and ISIS to use Afghan soil again US and its allies. There might have been discussions about other issues such as the interim government, exchange of prisoners and amendments of the Afghan constitutions, which has raised eyebrows of the Afghan government.

As the President election are schedule for the mid of this year and including President Ghani a number of key political figures have registered themselves for election, discussions around the interim government could mean an end to the current government. This idea has been widely opposed by the political groups in Kabul as it’s interpreted as retuning to the early 2000s era. Despite the constantly insisting on direct negotiating with the Afghan government, the Taliban have refused to engage them as they consider the Afghan government   as the puppet of the US. The Taliban view the withdrawal of US from Afghanistan as collapse of the current administration including the Afghan National Security Forces which are mainly funded by the USA.

As many Afghans are optimistic to the current peace process but on the other hand there some concerns which cannot be undermined. If the US withdraws from Afghanistan as it’s hoped by the Taliban, it means that a group which is mainly supported by the Pakistani army with zero experience in the area of governance will take over its policies will always be dictated by the Pakistan. On the other hand with have a government which has many educated, experience people working for it and the arrival of such group could means an end to all the achievements of the last decade or so.

Afghans wishes a peace agreement which can ensure the sovereignty of Afghanistan with respect to human and women rights. Afghans don’t wishes to return to the dark days of the 1990s where every Afghan was killing another. Where there were no educational and economic opportunities and people were forced to fight.

The second round of the US-Taliban talks are scheduled for the end of February in Qatar, where more issues such as Afghan-Talban talks, Interim government, US withdrawal Plan, exchange of prisoners would be discussed. According to draft peace agreement a ceasefire might be announced and the US might begin to begin it troops in 18 months times.

View expressed in this article are of the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Pajhwok’s editorial policy.

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