Talks with the Taliban

When the US appointed Zalmay Khalilzad as its special representative for Afghanistan last month it seemed as if the Trump administration has given up any hope of a negotiated settlement with the Afghan Taliban. Khalilzad is a notorious hawk who is particularly hostile to Pakistan – the one country that will be needed to convince the Taliban to reach an compromise with the US. Those worries, however, may have been premature. Last week, Khalilzad met with six Taliban representatives in Qatar. This came after the special representative had visited Pakistan, Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia to lay the groundwork for this meeting. As of now, it appears that the US and the Taliban were unable to find much common ground. For the US, it is unacceptable that the Taliban ever head or even be a part of the Afghan government while the Taliban are refusing any agreement that does not stipulate the complete withdrawal of US and Nato forces from Afghanistan. According to the Taliban, though, the US has at least agreed to discuss the potential withdrawal of its troops. This in itself is something of a comedown for the US. President Donald Trump had predicated his entire strategy for the Afghanistan war on a surge of troops that could pacify the Taliban. That he has seemingly realised this strategy is doomed to failure is a cause for optimism.

The Taliban had always maintained that the only way for negotiations to work was with the direct involvement of the US rather than through a proxy like the Afghan government or Pakistan. The US, meanwhile, tried to avoid public engagement with the Taliban – an enemy it has demonised to such an extent that face-to-face talks were considered a non-starter. It is a small sign of progress that the US has now realised it needs to treat the Taliban as equal stakeholders. Seventeen years of occupation and brutal warfare have been unable to destroy the Taliban. The Trump administration needs to realise that military victory in Afghanistan is a near impossibility. Now that initial contact with the Taliban has been made, there need to be further meetings. Neighbouring countries like Pakistan and China need to be involved too as they will bear the brunt of any fallout from an end to active hostilities in Afghanistan. The country right now is in a military stalemate where the Taliban are too strong to be defeated but not powerful enough to dislodge the government. The only way of breaking that stalemate is through further talks to follow up on Khalilzad’s Qatar meetings.