Following a six-day talks in Doha, Qatar's chief negotiator, Jalame Khaliljad, on January 28, announced that the United States and Taliban have created a 'draft structure' of a contract that could create a path to peace with the Afghan government. Khaliljad's comments undoubtedly wished the end of the 17-year war in Afghanistan, but did not provide specific information about draft structures of US or Taliban officials.
Over the years, the fighting parties have held meetings and discussions. Has created many hopes. But due to the lack of knowledge of the policy makers, excessive confidence and wrongness of past, peace has always been in progress, as a result millions of people are suffering.
Today we feel that there has been another chance to break the cycle of violence and peace process has started, which will eventually end the suffering of the people of Afghanistan and make them united and prosperous. However, it has been proved many times in the past that the sustained peace will not be achieved until the fighting parties will not learn from the mistakes of the past, will not understand the enemy's needs and motives, and the local people's needs will not be fulfilled. And it is important to look into the fact that what happened in the 1990's, due to historical juncture, the emergence of the Taliban. It can also give a guidance to the US and Taliban officials in peace talks.
What does the Taliban want?
In the early 1990s, Taliban was formed with a part of Muslim Afghan fighters. They were fighting against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan (1979-89) Taliban took advantage of the vacuum that led to the creation of Afghanistan after the Soviet army left it. Tired people of war and turbulence welcomed Taliban in hopes of peace. Their influence spread from southwestern Afghanistan to spreading. In 1996, President Borhanuddin ousted the government of Rabbani and captured the capital Kabul and Taliban. After the 'Twin Towers' attack, on October 7, 2001, the group took control of most of the country until the US forces started the attack in Afghanistan. Taliban was ousted in the first week of December of that year.
After the fall of the Taliban regime, the members of the group agreed to accept a peace treaty, which would allow them to live with dignity in their country. But politicians and decision-makers inside and outside of Afghanistan became absolutely enlightened in their decisive victory. They refuse to enter into any kind of contract and they will remove the Taliban from the negotiating table. At the conference held in the city of Bonn, they completely disregard Taliban's most basic needs and help to form strictly anti-Taliban government. It was a fundamental mistake, which pushed Afghanistan towards war and bloodshed, and brought us to this position today.
In the last 17 years, countless Taliban leaders have been killed, humiliated and exiled abroad by US forces. Many have been sent to Guantánamo and Bagram There they were victims of filthy torture. And for these reasons, the Taliban thinks of fighting the US forces as sacred duty.
Now the Taliban wants to achieve two long-term goals as an influential political and military organization. One is the complete withdrawal of all the foreign troops from Afghanistan and the establishment of an integrated Islamic government.
Apart from this, the Taliban also has some minor claims. They want the names of their leaders to be withdrawn from the list of international sanctions, their prisoners should be released, and their political office in Doha internationally recognized. Like the subsequent defeat of 2001, the Taliban now believe that after an agreement they have achieved the right to remain as an important political power in Afghanistan.
The ongoing talks in Doha can be successful, if all the parties involved recognize the position of the Taliban and the group does not have a little knowledge.
For achieving sustainable peace, the Afghan government must recognize the needs and expectations of the Taliban, as well as the necessary parts of the Afghan people who consider the Taliban to be a threat.
Translated from English, taken from al-Jazeera
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