Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Thursday, April 18th, 2024

The Taliban Misguided in their Decision to Leave the Table of Negotiation

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The Taliban Misguided in their Decision to Leave the Table of Negotiation

The hope coming after years of attempts at negotiating peace with the Taliban, in which multiple international actors participated, finally failed to give a favorable result.  The intra-Afghan talks which supported by the US and the Taliban is on fragile situation now.  Since the Taliban is not an independent political party, their foreign-supporters misguided them in their decision to leave the table of negotiation. The recent US-Taliban agreement was one of the last efforts to bring peace in Afghanistan. Though it was totally in the favor of the Taliban. As the consequence, after the Taliban signed an Agreement with their foreign enemy on February 29, 2020, in Doha, the Taliban almost recognized by the world community as a legal political party in Afghanistan particularly via the Taliban’s supporter countries. In the other hand, the general desire for peace and stability helped this movement to go ahead for some distances and achieve the defined goal that was the Intra-Afghan Talks. It happened in a condition that the Taliban committed to reduce violence and prepare the ground for ceasefire.  However, after many round of tough discussions the Taliban increased violence and finally they left the table of negotiation.
Nevertheless, leaving the Table of Negotiation is not a good news for the Taliban future as well as  for peacemakers and peace lovers.  Because, the state ordinary people do not like the Taliban brutal social orders throughout Afghanistan, for in the past the Taliban was not able or willing to deliver socio-economic improvements for the population. The Taliban further destroyed the administrative and socioeconomic capacities of the country as well as the Taliban forgot their shameful distorted in late 2001.  During the six years rule the Taliban failed to obtain international legitimacy and boost prices, it undermined its vital political support.  Because of its weak legitimacy at that point, the Taliban collapsed far more rapidly than anyone expected.
Moreover, Taliban defined its purpose of violence establishing Islamic Emirate as improving governance in Afghanistan and acting against the rampant criminality that swept the country. No doubt, the Taliban itself has become deeply involved in all kinds of illicit economies, including drugs, timber, and gems. The Taliban turned out to be highly counterproductive. The complete destruction of the infrastructure, central authorities and peoples’ faith resulted in a fragmentation of society during the Taliban war. They encouraged the opium poppy economy and besides through the past two decades, Taliban fuelled and funded the conflicts of Afghanistan. 
It is brighter as sun that Islamic Emirate will not success to be established again in Afghanistan, because Taliban has a dangerous psychology sickness.  The problem with Taliban is; they are a purely extremist movement rather a democratic, independent political party.  Nonetheless, there is evidence that they did not exclusively recruit the youth. In their efforts to recruit fighters, the Taliban initially had to rely on their base in Pakistan, the Afghan refugee communities and the madrassas. They cooperated with Pakistani militant groups and with some Pakistani authorities. From 2006 onwards, there was a sharp rise in the level of insurgency and the Taliban were able to recruit most of their new ranks within Afghanistan. To gain support and recruit fighters, they relied on economic needs, fear and coercion, pride and honor, tribe and tradition, religious persuasion. Local and autonomous commanders, tribal structures and religious clerics are the main channels through which recruitment is facilitated within Afghanistan. In addition, they had to rely on new and younger recruits again initially found in the Pakistani refugee camps and madrassas. The Taliban leadership resides in Pakistan and they are known as the Quetta Shura.  
In addition, another factor that helped the Taliban to recruit the illiterate youths from inferior families for fighting is there are a number of self-reinforcing loops linked to inequality problem in the country. A clear illustration of this is the role of inequality in reducing the voting participation of the low-income groups and the concomitant consequences in terms of redistributive policies and therefore on income disparities. The effect of income inequality on happiness critically depends on the perceived mobility in a country. The gaps in-between the rich and the poor is a new challenge for the government of Afghanistan.
In last calculation, existing corruption and crime are the base for the misusing of the Taliban from the youths and young extremist. By inequality of opportunity, especially in areas like access to high-quality education, adequate healthcare and decent employment.  Such inequalities can lock in privilege and exclusion and prevent people from poorer families from moving up in society and making the most of their potential. The causes of these growing income gaps are complex and reflect both economic and social changes. The equal societies always do better in the levels of trust, civic engagement and participation, as well as to a host of other social challenges from poor health to crime, to underage pregnancies. Furthermore, the Afghan people overwhelmingly welcomed the promise of democracy, an accountable government that respected human rights and provided equitable economic development with the support of the international community.

Finally, among many ideas that have gained currency in recent months in Afghanistan is the notion of reconciliation with the Taliban. The war in Afghanistan cannot be win without convincing non-ideologically committed insurgents to lay down their arms, reject al Qaeda, and accept the Afghan constitution.  In the recent conflicts in Afghanistan, an important development happened in Doha-Qatar that resulted in intra- Afghan talks. But unfortunately after rounds of discussion the Taliban left the table of negotiation intentionally, Afghans become upset about peace and it happened because the Taliban’s masters misguided them profoundly.

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