Some steps forward

After four days of talks between the US and the Afghan Taliban, there is finally some reason for cautious optimism. The negotiations were originally scheduled to last for only two days; that they were extended shows that both sides believe a breakthrough is possible. According to US officials, there is likely to be an agreement that would call for the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan in return for a pledge from the Taliban that they would not allow militant groups like Al-Qaeda and Islamic State to operate from the country. Such an agreement, should it come to pass, could be the basis for peace in Afghanistan.Still, we are very far from reaching such a point. The Afghan government, for one, is none too happy about being left out of the negotiations on the direction of the Taliban. On their part, the Taliban see the Ashraf Ghani government as nothing more than a puppet of the US and so refuse to negotiate with it directly. Ghani is also opposed to giving any major concessions to the Taliban until they renounce violence. His fear is understandable. Even as representatives of the Taliban were meeting with Zalmay Khalilzad in Doha, the group carried out a major suicide attack at a military base in the province of Maidan Wardak that killed more than 100 people. Once the US withdraws from the country, it will be the responsibility of the Afghan government to ensure that peace agreements are followed. Should the Taliban continue their violent ways, any accord that is reached could soon collapse.Pakistan, too, has reason to be worried. Before the meeting between the US and the Taliban in Qatar, the Taliban left Khalilzad hanging for five days in Islamabad as they refused to come to the negotiating table. They left unexplained the reasons for the delay but Pakistan will surely be worried that it is being cut out of the peace process. This may explain why the Foreign Office was so eager to take credit for facilitating the talks in Doha. Pakistan has taken some comfort in the fact that close Donald Trump confidante Senator Lindsay Graham visited the country and was generally positive about our role in trying to end the war. For now, though, it seems that Pakistan does not loom large in the negotiations, and there is not much clarity in whether our interests will be considered as the US and Afghan Taliban finally come close to breaking the deadlock.

from The News International - Editorial http://bit.ly/2DzYKOY