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Afghanistan Needs Cooperation not Confrontation

Date: 10 July 2021 - 21:55

News ID: ۹۲۲۸۶

By: Kayhan Int’l Staff Writer

The resurgent Taliban militia, which seems to be taking over large parts of Afghanistan from the government forces, may or may not succeed in establishing itself as the sole power over the war-torn country, but it is clear that it will play a dominant role.
The multi-ethnic composition of Afghanistan where Pakhtuns account for almost two-thirds of the population and most Pashtu speakers do not necessarily support the Taliban, may prevent a single political-military group from imposing its will on the entire country – even through use of arms.
Therefore, the current situation, especially after withdrawal of US occupation forces, warrants cooperation and certainly not confrontation, which is likely to play into American hands and make Washington keep some troops in Afghanistan.
The only solution to the current crisis is talks among all political, ethnic, and religious groups for setting up a broad-based national government that respects the rights of all and unifies the Afghan people against terrorist groups, such as the despicable Daesh that acts as the fifth column of the Americans.
The Taliban seems to have realized these facts, as could be evident by the talks they have recently held in Tehran, Moscow, and other places.
In the Iranian capital, Abbas Stanekzai, head of the Taliban Political Bureau in Doha, Qatar, who through mediation of the Islamic Republic, conferred with former Vice-President Yunus Qanooni of the government in Kabul, sounded rational when he said that dialogue and peace are matters of vital importance.
The Taliban, however, do not consider the government of President Ashraf Ghani as the legitimate representative of the Afghan people because of its overtly pro-occupation stance and looking towards the Americans for survival, even when the US has ditched its protégés in Kabul.
The joint statement released in Tehran was encouraging. The Taliban side said in clear words that it does not support attacks on civilians, schools, mosques and hospitals and want a negotiated settlement on Afghanistan’s future.
So far so good, and Iran, which shares some 700 km of border with Afghanistan, wants stability on the others side of its eastern borders.
The two countries enjoy a common history, religion, language, and culture, that was evident with the presence in Tehran of three other Afghan delegations at the same time as the Iranian foreign ministry hosted the Taliban-Kabul talks.
The Islamic Republic hosts some 780,000 registered Afghan refugees in addition to between 2.1 and 2.5 million undocumented Afghans living in Iran, which also serves as the shortest and safest route for landlocked Afghanistan’s trade with the outside world.
It is also worth noting that a separate Taliban delegation to Moscow gave assurances to Russia it will not allow Afghanistan’s northern borders to be used as a base for attacks on the Central Asian republics of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan.
To sum, only peace and cooperation amongst all Afghan groups is the solution for the country which over the past forty five years since the communist coup has not known anything but misery that was worsened by the Americans, the arch- enemies of the Afghan Muslim people, whose agents the macabrely murderous Daesh terrorists still linger and ought to be decisively eliminated.