Taliban representatives' nominal participation in last month's Paris conference did a great job for them. They are blessed by governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Pakistan has so far released dozens of their prisoners. Meanwhile, the Afghan government has set free hundreds of insurgents related to Taliban group in the past few days. The purpose of all these has been convincing Taliban to participate in a negotiation process that can lead Afghanistan out of the ongoing conflict.
As it seems, Taliban are missing any true intention to talk about peace with the Afghan government. Their unwillingness to negotiate is signaled by the baseless conditions they have set before the Karzai administration. One of such conditions is implementation of their interpretation of shariah, instead of the constitutional law of Afghanistan and another is immediate withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan.
On Saturday, the Taliban warned of a prolonged war in Afghanistan, if Mr. Karzai agrees on the presence of a single US soldier in Afghanistan after 2014. "If America wants to leave a small or large number of its troops for whatever length of time then it means war and destruction will continue in the region for that same length," the Taliban said in a statement.
Afghan National Army (ANP) and Afghan National Police (ANP) need intensive training for a long run in order to become a competent force against the enemies of Afghanistan. For that purpose, presence of foreign military mentors is a fundamental requirement. Presence of foreign troops in a country for positive purposes is never a bad thing, especially when their activities are confined by laws and regulations.
Saudi Arabia serves as the center of Muslims around the world. Muslims turn towards Mecca five times a day to worship their God. Nonetheless, there are a number of US military bases in Saudi Arabia. Similarly, the US has military bases in other Islamic countries such as Qatar and Kuwait. The Taliban have somehow been attached to certain Islamic countries - especially Saudi Arabia - but have never objected presence of American troops in such countries.
If Taliban regime holds true intentions for resolving the Afghan conflict through a peaceful way, they must not escape from the calls of the Afghan government by making futile pretends. It is also very crucial for the Afghan government to practice caution while dealing with Taliban.