Advocate Hammad Ali
IN Dec 2018, the then US President Donald Trump wrote a letter to Prime minister Imran Khan, and asked for Islamabad’s help to end the longest war in the history of the US.
Pakistan responded positively and assured the US that it would play all its possible role to bring peace to the neighbour. So, efforts began. Pakistan convinced Taliban to come to table.
The Taliban agreed for talks, particularly on the condition that the US forces must be withdrawn from Afghanistan. Trump acceded. Doha became the centre of peace talks.
After negotiations of months, the Doha deal was signed among the parties. Whose main points were:
•Within the first 135 days of the deal the US would reduce its forces in Afghanistan to 8,600, with allies also drawing down their forces proportionately. Later Trump brought the numbers of the US troops in Afghanistan to the lowest level.
•The deal also provided for a prisoner swap. Some 5,000 Taliban prisoners and 1,000 Afghan security force prisoners would be exchanged
•The US also promised to lift sanctions against the Taliban and work with the UN to lift its separate sanctions against the group.
•Taliban promised to not make further attacks, and they would not let other terrorists to use the Afghan soil for terrorism.
Nearly two-decade long war had brought both parties close.
The reasons were: Uncle Sam suffered the loss of trillions of dollars, also nearly 2400 US army personnel had died in this war, moreover Trump considered it an opportunity to attract more votes.
On the other hand Taliban realised that, although, currently, they have an upper hand, they were bearing huge economic and human losses. It forced them to think rationally. Therefore, both parties made peace deal and also materialised it to great extent.
There became a hurdle when Afghan govt was hesitant to release prisoners who were involved in most heinous terrorist activities, but Trump Administration pressurised Kabul to release those prisoners, it also attracted international backlash. Anyway, process continued. Finally intra-Afghan dialogue began.
The change in the White House also has brought change in the policy of Washington towards Afghanistan. Biden the most seasoned politician has adopted a different view. Antony Blinken Secretary of State of America issued a statement that the US is going to revisit the deal.
This statement has raised concerns for Taliban and also for other stakeholders. The efforts to bring peace have been put at stake. Most probably, the US would not withdraw from Afghanistan because of geo-political reasons.
Afghanistan is a centre which is providing an opportunity to the US to keep an eye on its rivals i.e. China, Russia and Iran. Washington wants to curtail Beijing, Moscow and Tehran from Afghanistan. To gain their own political interests, the hyper America has put at stake the peace of this region. Now, there are two possibilities, with regard to peace process.
First is, if the US fails to convince the Taliban to agree on the new deal, the whole peace process may prove futile. The Taliban who agreed to dialogue particularly only on the condition of withdrawal of forces may renounce the deal and turn to violence. Uncle Sam’s rivals may facilitate the Taliban to continue violent campaign against the US to force Americans to leave Afghanistan for their geopolitical interests.
Certainly, it will disturb the peace of the whole region, and will also directly impact the Pak-US relations. The relation between both are Afghan issue centric. The blame game may follow the course, if deal collapses.
Second possibility is, Biden Administration may convince the Taliban to end the violence and agree on the presence of American troops in Afghanistan. For this, the US would have to give carrots to the Taliban.
Biden Administration will have to facilitate intra Afghan talks and the Taliban must be given their due political share, and it must be ensured that the American troops will be withdrawn soon, in near future. Otherwise the longest war would bring more humiliation to the US.
Thus Biden Administration must craft the Afghanistan policy carefully. The US must not let the Taliban to start a new series of attacks with fresh verve and vigour.
Although premature withdrawal is not in the interest of any stakeholder of Afghan peace process, the permanent presence of the US troops is also illogical and unreasonable. It will continuously instigate the power struggle among international actors, which is detrimental for the whole region.
Therefore, after intra-Afghan settlement under its supervision, the US must leave Afghanistan. It must let the people of Afghanistan to exercise their own right of representation freely and they must be independent in their policy formulation in home and abroad.
—The writer is a practicing lawyer and human rights activist, based in Lahore.
