Since its establishment back in 2010 by President Hamid Karzai, the High Peace Council (HPC) has had more loss than achievement. The main purpose of the Council is finding out ways of negotiation with Taliban in order to put an end nearly 12 years of war through peaceful means. HPC has no laudable achievement at hand, although more than three years of its establishment has passed. Meanwhile, the Taliban, instead of indicating any readiness to sit with HPC members at one table, have been targeting them from time to time.
Burhanuddin Rabbani ex-chairman of HPC and former president of Afghanistan was targeted inside his home in Kabul in 2011 by a suicide bomber who had introduced himself as messenger of Taliban’s so called Quetta Shura. The next year Maulvi Arsala Rahmani one of the key members of HPC was shot dead in broad daylight near his home in Kabul. The targeted killing of HPC members has continued.
On Wednesday, May 01, 2013, an Afghan official said that insurgents used a bomb and small arms fire to kill Malim Shah Wali Khan, a representative of a government peace council, tasked with finding ways to begin talks with the Taliban. Omaer Zawak, a spokesman for the governor of Helmand, said the attack that killed him also wounded the province’s deputy governor. A bodyguard also died and four others were wounded.
Knowing that the HPC members are not safe one can ask how they could promote their organization’s objective amid fear of being killed in hands of the people who they want to launch negotiation with. Negotiation between two parties of the conflict can only be successful if both have true intention for it. In case of Afghan government peace process, the Taliban side has always responded with terror, negative remarks and killing of members of the body formed to facilitate peace talks.
After more than three years, it is still not clear where the peace process is heading. Will Taliban continue to fight or get involved in peace negotiations to put an end to their years-long resistance against the Afghan government? From what currently prevails in Afghanistan it can be said that they will bolster their insurgency in the months and years to come.
It is time for Afghan government to understand that the time of negotiation has passed. It could take place in the initial years of Karzai government. Now that only about a year of Karzai government remains and the US-led forces are packing for home the Taliban are less likely to take part in the peace process. Taliban-led insurgency is gaining more momentum as each day passes.