PEACE TALKS WITH THE TALIBAN
Remember 2001? The first Harry Potter film had come out, the iPod made its international debut, we had successfully survived the year 2000, and on a personal side note, I broke my left elbow in Ivory Coast — all in all, very exciting stuff.
Unfortunately, 2001 is also the year that will never be forgotten due to the events of September 11th, and the consequences of those events are still felt TODAY. For the last few weeks, negotiators and political officials have been piecing together a peace agreement which will finally put an end to this conflict. I say “piecing together” because it seems like they’re still missing a LOT of pieces before we have a comprehensive peace agreement which won’t crumble the moment it’s put into action. Now now, before we get started, let’s take a quick skip down memory/history lane to understand how we even got to this point in the first place.
The Taliban have been in Afghanistan for longer than the US has been at war with the country. As a political movement with an extreme ideology, they originated from Pakistan and since then have acquired control in some parts of the country for over two decades. Back in the late 70s, the USSR had actually invaded Afghanistan and set up a communist government there, and seeing this as an imminent threat to him and his power, Pakistan’s President Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq called in reinforcements and set up this group to take down the USSR forces in Afghanistan. Pakistan and Afghanistan are neighbours after all, so it was in Zia-ul-Haq’s (and everyone else’s) best interest to nip this communism situation in the bud. The reinforcements, by the way? Oh just the CIA and Saudi Arabia! I guess along the way al-Qaeda and the Taliban became Bosom Buddies or something because Afghanistan stayed al-Qaeda’s training ground and — surprise! — this is when the US got involved, AGAIN, but this time with very different intentions. This was all in the late 1990s.
By the time the 9/11 attacks were carried out, US involvement in Afghanistan was essentially inevitable. This is also why many believe that these attacks were actually carried out by the US government in order to justify invading Afghanistan, but that’s a conspiracy theory for another day. The US involvement in Afghanistan was less than ethical, and as the victim of a massive terrorist attack, they were able to get the support of a number of countries, even resulting in the entire NATO organisation (soooo that’s 29 States, just for reference) being involved as well. What followed was years (literally YEARS) of military involvement, bombings, insurgency, countless civilian deaths, and further political insecurity. Despite electing a president in 2014, the country remained in turmoil as a new group, the Islamic State, started to emerge as well, and essentially ever since then there’s been promise after promise that troops would be sent home and peace would come to Afghanistan.
Then came December 2018. Mr. Trump announced he was withdrawing troops from Afghanistan, supposedly putting an end to the longest war in US history. Like many others, I’d like to think that this decision came from a realisation at how unnecessary this war was in the first place. Wishful thinking Melina, wishful thinking…
All of this brings us back to what has been going down for the last few weeks, and that is peace agreements and ceasefire talks and negotiations between the US, and Taliban, and supposedly the Afghan government headed by Ashraf Ghani I say supposedly because according to reports, the government hasn’t actually been talking to the Taliban, they’ve just been getting briefed after every meeting between the Taliban and the US. So what are these peace agreements about, and what does it mean for Project dED?
This peace agreement currently resembles an American attempt at getting out as quickly and smoothly as possible, which suits the Taliban just fine but kind of pisses off President Ghani. First and foremost because it’s not like he’s in the winning position as the Taliban continue getting support and territory throughout the country, but also because one of the conditions for this peace agreement is for the Taliban to ‘TALK’ to President Ghani — not negotiate, not establish a proper power sharing strategy or whatever — nope. Just to TALK. A rushed peace agreement, if anything, is worse than one that takes an uncomfortably long time to establish.
The one silver lining in this is that the peace agreement doesn’t depend on further military involvement from third parties, reminding people that establishing peace is not synonymous with prolonged military intervention. Yes, some US troops will still be on the ground, and President Ghani doesn’t really care whether the US stays or goes, but these troops won’t be there to further deter the Taliban or continue training the Afghan government forces. Mr. Trump (yeah that’s right I said MISTER and not PRESIDENT because as far as I can tell he’s not been behaving in a presidential manner since….well damn, since January 2017), as always, is looking for ways to boost his ego and popularity amongst his fans and voters, portraying this withdrawal as a yuuuuuge win for America and for Americans. I mean think about it, some kids enlisting in today’s US military were just BORN when the US first got involved in Afghanistan; this war has been going on for long enough. The Taliban aren’t against this agreement either since that means they can most likely continue their mischief and now won’t have to worry about American soldiers on their backs. The loser in all this, unfortunately, is President Ghani and the people of Afghanistan.
Peace agreement? Maybe not. Peace talks? Nope, doesn’t work either. Peace process? To be determined. Peace, in general? Hopefully! Maybe we should just call them talks, because by the looks of it it’s not sure just how successfully peaceful this agreement will turn out to be. Withdrawing troops quickly and without having a backup plan set is irresponsible and could result in further violence and conflict between the Taliban and Ghani’s forces. Another point we would like to raise is what kind of precedent this will set. If these agreements backfire and actually result in even further military involvement and war, then any future attempt at coming to a peace agreement and ceasefire without putting down arms will be seen as inefficient. “We tried it in 2019, and it clearly didn’t work, and we can’t risk more civilians getting killed” is something I could hear them say…
What can we do from here? Aside from praying (if anyone wants to join me, drop me an email and let’s pray together), I’m not entirely sure. We’re hoping the US negotiator will be able to fully carry out his job and find a ground on which everyone can agree on. According to the Washington Post, there’s a chance that armed (#ew) drones could be used to keep an eye on Afghan people so that if they start acting up again, the US would know. But is that really, truly a solution? We think not. Armed drones to do surveillance? Sounds like more militarism to me, less freedom, and shit straight out of the dystopian novel, or a Black Mirror episode, whatever works best for you.
A civil war, especially one in which there is no stalemate (aka no clear winner), is hard enough to end, without the involvement of a third party it would be damn near impossible. Does that mean we have no choice but to use weapons in order to instill this peace? Does the third party have to be armed and ready to use ‘em? Could the third party be, for example, a grass-roots peace organisation who would know the conflict inside and out and offer clear and concise solutions in line with the Afghan people’s’ demands? What if the Taliban begin another insurgency, is the state of Afghanistan doomed to be under their thumb until a bigger, badder, and more armed entity comes into play? Honestly, I don’t know, but as we are building a peace community we would absolutely love to hear your thoughts on the matter. Is peace achievable in Afghanistan without a third party involved? Are they going to come to an agreement despite not being in a stalemate? Is peace possible in this situation, period?
We’ll keep you updated with this as the talks continue, and we truly hope for a peace agreement and ceasefire that doesn’t involve further military involvement.
Peace and Love,
Project dED
