Ghazni attack

The city of Ghazni has always been in the sights of the Afghan Taliban as its strategic location along Highway 1 provides the main road link between the capital city of Kabul and southern Afghanistan. Over the past few years, the Taliban have patiently taken control of many of the districts near and around Ghazni and have now launched a brutal assault on the city itself. Over the past five days, at least three hundred civilians have been killed by Taliban and Afghan security forces and in US airstrikes. On Wednesday, the Afghan government claimed that it has now cleared the city but there is still fear that the Taliban is biding its time for another push to capture Ghazni. This is first and foremost a humanitarian tragedy. The Taliban had cut electricity and water supplies, forcing many residents to flee to Kabul. Many of those trying to escape were hit by Taliban rocket attacks. For the Taliban, the push for Ghazni is the first time they are trying to take over a major city since they occupied Kunduz in 2015. That it comes soon after a month-long truce observed during Ramazan shows that the hopes for a peaceful settlement to the war in Afghanistan are as distant as ever.

Both sides in this war agree on the need for peace talks. Neither the Taliban nor the Afghanistan government is capable of controlling the entire country. The situation right now will only lead to further death and destruction. The US, despite sending more troops to the country, does not have the appetite to continue fighting a war that has now gone on for 17 years. The attack on Ghazni, however, complicates the chance of holding negotiations soon. The Taliban will now see the Afghan security forces as so weak that they were unable to fortify once of the most strategically important cities in the country while the Afghan government will not want to hold talks right after it has been attacked by the Taliban. Still, the only way out of this bloody stalemate is through a negotiated settlement. In recent weeks, the US has shown itself open to the idea of holding direct talks with the Taliban – something the militant group has long wanted. Should the US demand these talks, the Afghan government is unlikely to stand in its way and may even be relieved if concessions can be made directly by the US rather than by the government. It may only have a small chance of succeeding but expanding the war will only guarantee failure. The Taliban need to be brought to the negotiating table as soon as possible to finally bring peace to a country that has been destroyed by decades of war.