Published in Kabul Weekly on Thursday the 17. of August 06
Tom Koenigs, the special representative of the United Nations to Afghanistan, in a press conference last week, said that the absence of the Taliban at the Bonn Conference was a massive mistake that is now contributing to the growing number of Afghanistan’s enemies.
He said he is hopeful that the reconciliation process with Taliban forces would expand and speed up.
These statements by Mr. Koenigs take place at a time when the government has been asking the Taliban in the past four years to give up their weapons and start a civilian life. One of these efforts is the establishment of a commission under the name of the Reconciliation Commission, led by Sebghatullah Mujaddidi, the chairman of the senate, last year.
Mujaddidi, one of the jihadi leaders, is seen as being from a very religious and large family amongst Afghans. It seems that his appointment as the head of this commission was based on his overall popularity.
Earlier this week, Mujaddidi announced that nearly 2000 enemies of the government, who used to work under the Hezb-i Islami party of Hekmatyar, have accepted to give up their arms and join the reconciliation process.
Earlier, also, some Taliban leaders like Mawlawi Wakil Ahmad Mutawakel, the Minister of Foreign Affairs during the Taliban Regime, Mawlawi Qalamuddin,……, Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef and Mullah Abdul Salam Raketi, a senior commander of Taliban, had accepted to join the reconciliation process. Raketi is now a member of Afghan parliament.
Still the situation is deteriorating and no negative affects can been seen on the part of the Taliban. However, some of them are giving up.
But will the Taliban actually accept the invitation of the government to join the reconciliation process?
At the moment, Afghanistan is in a position where insurgent groups are seeking to collapse the government, according to Tom Koenigs.
Thus, it doesn’t seem likely that the enemy, who intend to collapse the government, will give up.
The rising strength of the anti-government forces over the past one and half years may also be another reason why they won’t give up. If they feel that they are able to reach their goal, it is hard for them to hand over their weapons and live under a government which they are against.
It should also be mentioned that it is not only the Taliban who are fighting against the government, but the armed smuggling groups in the north also play a big role in this war.
Will they also join the reconciliation process and give up the huge amount of money they earn from drugs?
If the enemies of the government give up, what will happen to the long-term strategies of Pakistani extremist groups regarding Afghanistan? The simple answer is that it won’t happen, which means that they won’t allow the Taliban to give up, considering the strong influence of these groups among the Taliban.
Finally, it is not clear what do the directors of the reconciliation process mean to say by extending the process? Does it mean that the Taliban should start civilian lives or that they should taken part in the government?
Given the above facts none of these options will work. In addition, people don’t want to see the Taliban running the government once again.
What is the solution?
The solution is simple and repeated several times: the acceleration of the reconstruction process, equipping the national police and army, the serious eradication of administrative corruption, combat against narcotics, capacity building in governmental departments, and bringing political pressures on Pakistan to cut support to the Afghan government enemies and others.
But the only thing that can make these plans or the current peace process successful is a wise planning and timing. The problems in Afghanistan are like chains tied to each other; over the past four and half years, both the government and international community have worked to resolve every circle of the chain separately. Administrative reforms, for instance, are part of the government and international community’s plans. These reforms have been partly carried out in the ministries of the Defense and the Interior, but in the other ministries it hasn’t reached even 10 percent yet.
It is true that reforms need time, but if we don’t have precise planning the timing will be more than decades.
Nowadays, much attention is paid toward reconciliation with the Taliban. The only reason for this is that the Taliban are getting stronger and there are fears that the situation will get worse.
It is better if we don’t deceive ourselves. The Taliban will not be ready to talk. If the government and the international community do not deal with the roots of the problems in Afghanistan properly, we will be plunged headfirst into another crisis. BackgrounderSibghatullah Mujaddedi | Mullah Zaeef | Afghanistan post-Bonn | Mullah Abdul Wakil Mutawakil | Mullah Abdul Salam Rocketi | Tom Koenigs
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