US can’t shut out Kabul from talks with Taliban
The Obama Administration's effort to craft itself a face-saver in Afghanistan by sidelining the elected Government in Kabul and seeking to initiate direct bilateral talks with the Taliban in Qatar, has effectively backfired. A justifiably infuriated Afghan President Hamid Karzai has not only withdrawn his delegation that was supposed to join the dialogue in the Emirate later but has also slammed the brakes on security discussions with the US regarding the strength and character of the military mission that would remain in Afghanistan after all combat troops pull out by the end of 2014. Mr Karzai's response was triggered by the high-profile opening of the Taliban's office in Doha which, believe it or not, seemed to have caught the White House off-guard as well. As per prior agreements with Kabul, the Taliban office was to be for conducting peace talks with Americans and Afghans alone. Yet, on Tuesday, it was unveiled as the ‘political office' of the “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan” — the name that the Taliban used while in power — in the presence of the Qatari Foreign Minister.
The Taliban leadership also said that it would use the office to reach out to the international community and speak to the media. In other words, the event turned out to be a publicity exercise for the Taliban who presented themselves as some kind of a Government-in-exile, and in the process dealt a humiliating blow to the Karzai regime. Equally importantly, the lavish ceremony broadcast worldwide also helped the Taliban regain a degree of legitimacy in certain quarters. Of course, as a result of hectic diplomatic parleys following President Karzai's sharp response, the “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan” banner was removed and the white flag of the Taliban brought down. But the damage has already been done.
That the Taliban would pull a stunt like this is not surprising; but the fact that the Americans would allow them the opportunity to do so even when it meant upsetting the Karzai regime, is shocking. It exposes American political naiveté and also underlines Washington, DC's strategic opportunism. So desperate the US is now to somehow close its 12-year-long episode in Afghanistan, that the Obama Administration is not just willing to talk to unrepentant terrorists but also has no qualms in throwing under the bus its long-time ally in Kabul. That this ally also happens to be the elected representative of those very Afghan people whose welfare Washington claims is at the core of any Afghan peace process, reflects on America's duplicitous role. Whatever has happened to all that big talk about supporting democracy and ensuring freedom and equality and promoting human rightsIJ Any reconciliatory dialogue with the Taliban was supposed to happen only after the extremist group agreed to give up on its militant ways and promised to abide by the Afghan Constitution that guarantees equality to all citizens, regardless of gender. Yet, there is no proof that the Taliban who, not so long ago, had imposed the most ruthless regime upon the Afghan people, have committed themselves to any of these. On the contrary, they have intensified their offensive. In fact, only hours after the Doha office was inaugurated, militants struck an American convoy outside the Bagram Air Base and killed four US soldiers.