The equation is getting more complicated and ambiguous for Afghanistan. The mission becomes more skeptical and undecided when contradictory policies and practices get disclosed. Fighting to capture or kill Al Qaeda and Taliban leaders and secretly releasing them to pacify militancy indicates the gravity of frustration, confusion and exhaustion in the decade-long fight against terrorism.
Appeasements began when President Karzai's government felt unable to counteract pressures from regional state actors and local leaders to offer increasing advantages for Taliban and its allied groups. Lack of the required willingness and political determination to end violence and terrorism has ended up in a messy state in which Taliban reject generous offers from Afghan government and the international community. A number of appeasement policies are practiced so far, with no productive outputs.
Releasing notorious Taliban commanders remains one of the key offers the government has put forward to catch Taliban leaders. Following a series of risky - and sometimes disastrous - moves by president Karzai administration, reports have disclosed secret releases of Taliban fighters by the US government.
The Washington Post reported on Monday May 07, 2012 that the US has been releasing Taliban high level commanders in "exchange for pledges of peace". The Daily reported, "The United States has for several years been secretly releasing high-level detainees from a military prison in Afghanistan as part of negotiations with insurgent groups, a bold effort to quell violence but one that U.S. officials acknowledge poses substantial risks." The efforts have proved greatly counterproductive as the US Senate Report finds out that the Taliban has grown stronger since President Barack Obama sent 33,000 more US troops to Afghanistan in 2010.
A report by Senator Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat, and Mike Rogers, Republican, has challenged Obama's evaluation during his visit to Kabul that America has broken the Taliban's momentum. Feinstein and Rogers recently visited Afghanistan for a fact-finding trip during which they met President Hamid Karzai.
The sequence of strategic concessions by Afghan government and international community to the Taliban and its allied groups have faded hopes in a democrat, stable and developed Afghanistan. Taliban's determination to topple down Kabul government to reinstall the Islamic Sharia Law prevents them from embracing peace and reconciliation. Joining a West-backed administration contradicts their extremist ideological principles. So, the failed attempts to appease extremist ideologists at the expense of democracy, human rights and freedom of belief will make Afghanistan undergo new troubles. US's "strategic release" of Taliban fighters can prove really damaging.