Afghanistan Times
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Taliban on Friday announced their spring offensive, a move that begins every year after the three-month break due to winter. The offensive this year called as al-Fath (victory) is almost different from the previous ones as the insurgents are running peace negotiations with the United States, a process that started last year and both Washington and Taliban claim about progresses.
The government that pretends to work more than any others for peace, with President Ghani saying several times of personal sacrifices to bring a durable peace to the war-damaged country, announced last week a nationwide operation against Taliban. Security officials aimed the operation named “Khaled” to eliminate insurgents’ sanctuaries and retake areas fell to them.
The two parties announce war at a time that both are apparently working for peace. What does this mean? Is it possible to hold two or more conflicting things at the same time? Is it meaningful to open fire at each other and then invite for reconciliation? This is a great paradox, a shameful policy that will make Afghans lose trust in government and Taliban (some people prefer the group as they are tired of corruption and other disorders in government) and the world to ridicule them.
The words that government officials and Taliban spokesmen say about simultaneously working on peace process and continuing clashes is not justifiable by any means, and everyone knows that going ahead for war increases and steps up vengeance and revenge. This is not the way to lead one to peace and will only flare up war and will shed more blood. This is the thing that our enemies in abroad want and helps them come closer to their vicious goals that is killing of Afghans and destroying Afghanistan. This eases our foreign enemies’ plots because we carry out it ourselves.
The way to peace begins from mirror-like hearts, from the hearts that are free of any hatred and the minds that are not home to any evil plots and programs. If the war parties that are both Afghan, really want to work for peace after more than 14 years of war, they first need to remove every hatred and vengeance from their hearts and imagine a peaceful, reconstructed and prosperous Afghanistan. They should convince themselves that war is enough and practice peace efforts to end the war. The government and Taliban should have announced peace efforts in the beginning of spring to make Afghan hearts blossom, instead war which the horrific smell of its gunpowder withers the hearts.
