Dramatic changes in negotiations with Taliban in Doha have raised certain questions about the fate of these talks and also of the general peace and stability in the country. By the government officials and members of High Peace Council (HPC), the negotiations have been criticized as these negotiations have been arranged by keeping out the Afghan government which is the representative of the people of Afghanistan and any such decision about Afghanistan would not be accepted by its people until its representatives do not play an important role in it. Almost the same concerns have been expressed by the leaders of a number of countries like Canada and Russia and defense ministers of Germany and Italy have urged Taliban to accept the constitution of Afghanistan and make demands within the boundary of the constitution.

At present, this process of peace and negotiations seems to have halted due to the concerns expressed by Afghan government over the status of Taliban and the role Afghan government in these negotiations. At the same time, Afghan government’s concern over the role of foreign powers is very logical as these negotiations seem to be conducted by US and its allies in direct connection with Taliban and Afghan government’s role has greatly been reduced.

It was necessary that first of all some of the burning issues should have been discussed in these meetings but instead of this, some political issues that have no direct link to the common Afghan have been brought into lime light and the peace process came into a halt with these issues and other important issues were not discussed.

At present, the biggest problem of a common Afghan is the poor and deteriorating situation of law and order in the country. Every day, dozens of innocent citizens lose their lives in the attacks and mines of terrorists. Terrorists also target the members of Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) and all these have resulted in a situation when a common Afghan feels himself insecure. This general perception has also threatened the traders and investors and greatly affected the process of reconstruction and trade expansion.

After this, the mix up of local and foreign Taliban is a big problem and it has created a lot of frustration and confusion among the public and security forces.

It is necessary that when the peace talks resume, Afghan government should demand halt for any kind of militancy and insurgency by Taliban, ensuring the complete restoration of peace in the country. Secondly, Afghan Taliban should be asked to cut their links with foreign Taliban so that there should be discrimination between them and our Afghans should no more act as a puppet. When these basic demands would be met, it would be a good start for negotiations that would ensure the peaceful resolution of country’s problems.