Afghan government has proposed peace with Taliban and offered for talks to work out a settlement.
This is the most comprehensible outreach since the ouster of Taliban from power in 2001 by the U.S. led coalition.
What is the exact proposal?
The Offer - Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has recently invited the Taliban for talks and promised to recognise them as a political party.
He also called for other confidence-building measures and asked them to recognise the Kabul regime and the constitution.
The Taliban was asked to open an office in Kabul and passports and freedom of travel were offered to those involved in negotiations.
The Afghan government has presently come up with a seven-point plan for engagement and no apparent preconditions have been set.
Also, no time limit has been set for the Taliban to respond and negotiations are being premised on an openness to be accommodative.
Previously – An attempt for peace with Taliban was made in July 2015, and talks between the warring parties were held in Pakistan.
But those efforts collapsed when it emerged that Taliban leader Mullah Omar had died two years earlier in an attack.
Ever since, the Taliban has stepped up its violent campaign, killing thousands and the current offer is partly in desperation.
What drove the offer?
Clearly, 16 years of unending war seems to be driving the government and its allies to a fatigue, as the Taliban still looks resilient and persistent.
Notably, Taliban’s is currently on the offensive and is expanding its influence across rural areas, and has a strong presence in 70% of the country’s territory.
While Taliban has shown a capacity to strike even fortified positions in Kabul, it cannot capture the city as long as the U.S. has boots on the ground.
Considering this stalemate like situation, both sides have incentives for initiating talks and try direct negotiations for a way out.
Significantly, Mr. Ghani’s offer comes a month after U.S. President Trump ruled out talks with the Taliban and committed more troops for Afghanistan.
But given the indispensability of U.S. support for the regime, the present offer is likely to have got the tacit approval of the Trump administration.
How does the future look?
Previously, U.S. had tried various tactics like – “increasing troops, pressuring Pakistan to restrain Taliban, and promoting secret talks”.
But as these have resulted in little success and hence it is important to experiment with a direct Afghan driven initiative like the present one.
Settling the Taliban menace is also vital as another threat is looming large in eastern Afghanistan, where “Islamic State affiliates” are gaining clout.
If the Taliban accepts the peace proposal, it could set the stage for a constructive engagement and provide the much needed relief for the Afghanis.
