Afghanistan Times
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Our leaders have committed dangerous political follies that cost us our peace and sovereignty. Afghanistan has been hemorrhaging for more than 40 years to internecine wars and factional infightings at the hands of the country’s leaders.
After defeating Soviet Union, the first slip-up resulted into agitation of deadly civil war. The civilians have gone through many bloody years during this period of time. Afghanistan is not a new country in the region. Our story goes back to the Silk Road era—centuries old epoch. Peace, prosperity, equality, minorities rights, women’s rights, the rights of none-Muslims and the most importantly, all Afghans were living unitedly—something we direly need at the moment. It’s a matter of big shame that our leaders failed to reach consensus among themselves to retain the pre-war Afghanistan. We had a great country. A civilized and modern one—the new generations are holding their leaders responsible for the current relentless war. We lost everything. Anyways, after the collapse of the Taliban regime in 2001, Afghanistan once again become on the concentration of the international community, especially the United States of America. Everything was very well till 2006 – gradually things have gone to worse and the Taliban, who were defeated almost entirely, reemerged and now there are over 20 small and big terrorist groups.
Mistakes can be penitent by doing the right things—fortuitously, the current peace talks is the most excellent possibility for our leaders to repent by not repeating past blunders. US point-man for Afghanistan’s reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad said the fact that the Afghans are sitting across the table for the first time in 42 years is a moment of hope and opportunity. But he said it could not be an easy process. According to him, both Afghanistan and the US must avoid mistakes of the 1990s. He is absolutely right. Afghanistan descended into a civil war from which the Taliban emerged and gave shelter to al-Qaeda terrorist group. Last month, Afghan and Taliban delegations began peace talks in Doha, even as deadly violence continues in Afghanistan. Khalilzad brokered an agreement between the US and the Taliban, hammered out on 29th February. The US is testing the Taliban and the deal is condition based. The Taliban must cut ties with al-Qaeda and also reduce violence to give peace talks a chance to end the prolonged war. Obviously, there is a unique opportunity for peace and our leaders must seize it.
