Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Friday, March 29th, 2024

The Bonn and Doha Mistakes Must Not be Repeated in Istanbul

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The Bonn and Doha Mistakes Must Not be Repeated in Istanbul

After the fall of the Taliban in December 2001, the United Nations hosted Afghan and world leaders in Bonn, Germany, to make an agreement about a new political system in Afghanistan. This historic conference, after nine day discussions and arguments finally laid the cornerstone of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. Afghanistan was put at the center of international community’s attention; In fact, this conference paved the way for a lot of changes in Afghanistan receiving billions of aid since 2001 up to the date. In general, if we compare the current Afghanistan with Afghanistan before the Bonn conference, it has enormously changed. Nevertheless, it made some mistakes that swirled continuation of war and conflicts in the country. To prevent the repetition of history, the reviews of these mistakes are important on the eve of Istanbul conference.
The first and most important mistake of Bonn conference was exclusion of Taliban. In fact, the real side of conflicts who had just domination on almost all parts of the country were absent in the Bonn conference. Some experts believe that those Afghan political figures that were present in Bonn conference used to legitimize the US strategy in the country. It means that the decisions were already taken but Bonn was scenarios to legitimize its decisions in the country.
Even, after Bonn conference, the Karzai government failed to attract Taliban in the government body and so it did not last long that the group turned back with bomb and explosives. As a result, millions of Afghan people were displaced, killed, disabled or injured, and it has not stopped yet.
The next mistake of Bonn conference was exclusion of regional countries, especially Pakistan. While everyone is aware that Pakistan was the real supporter of Taliban and it had its own words and concerns, but it neither was included in the Bonn conference, and nor meaningfully involved in the process. We need to talk to Pakistan and obviate their concerns in talks table in case it has any legitimate concerns. Otherwise, we must use all means to convince it so as to stop its behavior and policies against Afghanistan. Therefore, the exclusion of Pakistan in Bonn conference was a big mistake and it should not be repeated in the Istanbul conference.
Moreover, we must note that the war and conflict in Afghanistan is not just a domestic and regional war. There are also international elements who are engaged in the conflicts but the people of Afghanistan. We must realize the motives of war supporters; we must make sure that Afghanistan is not used as threat against any country in the region. If we fail to obviate the concerns of regional countries, it would not be hard for them to use other terrorist groups as tool against the country, even after Taliban. Sometimes it is said that more than 22 terrorist groups are active in Afghanistan and so it is not hard to the regional intelligence networks to use other groups as a tool against the country.
One more problem which has raised a lot of questions since 2001 and actually is considered important for national security while linked to the Bonn agreement and post Bonn constitution is the issue of dual identity of government officials.  Unfortunately, the constitution of Afghanistan has no strict position about dual nationality in Afghanistan. Based on article no 72 if a candidate for a ministry has the nationality of a second country, the parliament has authority to accept or reject it. Accordingly, it is silent about the parliament representatives who are with dual nationality. Therefore, some of the representatives and government officials’ work in sensitive political positions with dual identity and even their families are not in Afghanistan. So, these types of issues which are directly linked with the national security of the country should not be forgotten in case of any reform in the constitution after Istanbul conference.
Accordingly, we must not repeat the mistakes of Doha, in Istanbul. In Doha, Taliban tactically released their 5000 prisoners without giving any advantage to the government and people of Afghanistan. Therefore, the people of Afghanistan are not sure about honesty of Taliban in Istanbul conference. Almost all warring sides such as government and international allies have clear position and plan for the Istanbul conference. The political parties also disclosed their peace plan submitting to the High Council for National Reconciliation, but the Taliban has no clear plan and position for Istanbul conference and peace in the country. The ambiguous position of Taliban has raised a lot of questions and doubts about honest and good-will of Taliban for reaching a fair and positive peace.
Thinking that the withdrawal of the US troops was certain, they used delay tactics so as to topple the Kabul government. After the US withdrawal through war, but finally led to failure of the Doha peace talks. Therefore, there is also probability that the Taliban use the same Tactics in Istanbul and so there is no guarantee for success of Istanbul conference.Unfortunately, the Taliban has had always a miscalculation about domination on Afghanistan.
Taliban has always been inflexible in the peace process and yet has not changed its attitude towards Afghan people and Afghanistan’s reality. If Taliban insists on its demands as previous, once again it will face the peace to deadlock in Istanbul. Therefore, Taliban should commit to have a flexible position in Istanbul and also the US withdrawal should be conditional to a full political agreement in the country. If the US show hastiness as Trump did, the Taliban sees no reason to give advantage to the opponent on table.

Mohammad Zahir Akbari is the permanent writer of the Daily Outlook Afghanistan. He can be reached at mohammadzahirakbari@gmail.com

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