Dozens of Afghan Local Police (ALP) were killed in cold blood on Thursday July 02 when heavily-armed insurgents stormed several police checkpoints in Jalrez District of central Maidan Wardak. The incident galvanized the public and sparked sensational protests. Reports say that Afghan Senators shut the House of Parliament in protest against what they called government’s negligence to the Jalrez carnage, expressing strong criticism against security officials. Meanwhile, the lawmakers, in the Lower House, accused the interior minister and provincial security officials in Maidan Wardak of neglecting the killings.
According to reports, the policemen – who belonged to a particular ethnic minority – were not aided militarily by the security officials despite their persistent call and being besieged by the Taliban militants. Rumors say that the incident was a systematic plot against the ethnic minority group however the main reason behind the officials’ negligence remains in mystery.
Constitutionally, Afghan citizens are free to exercise their rights under the democratic state irrespective of their race, sex, color, etc. and the government is responsible to provide them with equal rights and opportunities. As it is stated in the Constitution of Afghanistan, the government commits itself to “establish an order based on the peoples’ will and democracy; form a civil society void of oppression, atrocity, discrimination as well as violence, based on rule of law, social justice, protecting integrity and human rights, and attaining peoples’ freedoms and fundamental rights; strengthen political, social, economic as well as defense institutions; attain a prosperous life and sound living environment for all inhabitants of this land….”
Historically, ethnocentrism was a highly deadly phenomenon which plagued Afghanistan and propelled her to violence and civil unrest – this paved the way for the Taliban’s influence. The Taliban’s ethnocentric ideology ravaged the country more than ever before. They massacred hundreds of thousands of ethnic minorities on the basis of their race, color and beliefs. To put it succinctly, the individuals’ megalomania and superiority led to great causalities in Afghanistan and the history must not be permitted to repeat itself anymore.
The chronic problems of our bleeding nation have not been assuaged despite establishing a democratic government. A “civil society void of oppression, atrocity, discrimination” is likely to be a dream that never comes true – as if our nation is doomed to suffer the dystopia of war and violence for the whole life.
The anguished parents shedding bitter tears in the funeral of their beloved sons – who lost their lives in terrorist acts, the forgotten widows begging on the streets after missing their spouses in the battle against terrorists, the orphaned children, deprived of going to school, wander the slums for getting a morsel of bread, etc. make the headlines on national and international newspapers. The only reason behind all these tragedies is none but the Taliban militants.
The Taliban have been at war with the US-le coalition forces and the Afghan government for so long that there are few in Afghan politics who have nothad personal experience of the violence. To make the point that the Taliban are still at war, a few days later the group claimed responsibility for an attack in Kabul. Moreover, the Jalrez deadly incident reflects the Taliban’s inflexibility in peace.
In spite of all the aforementioned tragedies, Afghan government persists to bring the Taliban on the table of negotiation via Islamabad. Reports say that a delegation of Afghan leaders have traveled to Islamabad in order to commence peace talks with the Taliban. This comes as more than a decade of struggles for holding peace talks with the Taliban delegates met complete fiasco and none gave the desired fruit. In other words, despite the peace platitude, Afghan nation has been the sacrificial lambs during the past decade. On the one hand, Taliban give Afghan officials the green light for peace parley but on the other hand they compound their terrorist acts. The officials have ignored this paradox and they fall for the militants’ bogus claims continuously. Political analysts have also voiced their doubts about the potential outcome of such talks, so long as Pakistan has a hand in them. A Kabul university lecturer Nasrullah Stanikzai said, “I am not optimistic about the results of the talks”. Abdul Waheed Wafa, a political analyst based out of Kabul University, said, “The Afghan government faces a huge challenge. There is mistrust in the region between Kabul and Islamabad and the Taliban so there is a lot of work to be done. Most crucially we need to understand what the Taliban want.”
Figuring out what the Taliban wants poses a huge challenge to all parties. There are those who feel the Taliban are playing for time. They know that the Americans are leaving and therefore are looking for a way to leave quickly with having to re-engage as they have done in Iraq. For the Taliban, it’s likely that they will want a constitutional amendment that institutes Islamic law.
A second problem is the Pakistani Taliban, who present a significant challenge to Islamabad and that’s driving some of the mistrust between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
According to media reports at the time, it took nearly three years of on-and-off secret talks to get both sides to a position where talks might be possible. When it comes to this kind of diplomacy it’s very hard to tell fact from fiction. What we do know is that in the last 12 months, talks have taken place in China, Qatar, Oslo, Dubai and Pakistan – but the violence and terrorist acts continue unabated in the country.