What Biden Needs To Know About Afghanistan

Jacob Jeremiah Sullivan, the new National Security Adviser to President Joe Biden spoke to Afghan NSA바카라 웹사이트Hamdullah Mohib on바카라 웹사이트January 22바카라 웹사이트assuring him of US commitment to the Afghan peace process. He also told him that the White House would like to review the바카라 웹사이트February 2020바카라 웹사이트U.S.-Taliban agreement, to assess “whether the Taliban was living up to its commitments to cut ties with terrorist groups, to reduce violence in Afghanistan”. This review would include consultations with Afghan government, NATO allies and regional partners to evolve “a collective strategy” for supporting a stable and sovereign Afghanistan.

Sullivan라이브 바카라 special mention of US바카라 웹사이트support for “protecting the extraordinary gains made by Afghan women, girls, and minority groups as part of the peace process” assumes special significance as a policy priority. On바카라 웹사이트October 6, 1999, the then US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright had effected a sudden change of course of US diplomacy towards Taliban through her strong denunciation of the extremist group that it was dragging Afghan women back to the 13th바카라 웹사이트Century.바카라 웹사이트 The earlier period of bonhomie with Taliban on oil interests was called by바카라 웹사이트Washington Post (Nov 5, 2001) as a “decade of vexing relations”. During that period the annual State Department라이브 바카라 list of terrorism sponsoring nations did not include the Taliban ruled Afghanistan although it was harbouring Osama bin Laden. That was also the period when the US regional policy was closely aligned with Pakistan.바카라 웹사이트

In바카라 웹사이트September 2020바카라 웹사이트it was again Pakistan which had re-energized Trump라이브 바카라 Special Envoy바카라 웹사이트Zalmay Khalilzad라이브 바카라바카라 웹사이트Afghan- Taliban peace talks, which was hobbling after signing the “landmark” agreement with America in바카라 웹사이트February 2020. The Trump administration was then having discreet talks with Pakistan to make the Doha accord work.바카라 웹사이트 Much to our dismay, that was the reason why President Trump did not name Pakistan for being involved in terrorism against India during his visit to Motera in Gujarat and New Delhi in바카라 웹사이트February 2020. Also, in바카라 웹사이트September 2020바카라 웹사이트Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan had assured US that the peace treaty would economically “connect the entire region all the way up to Central Asia”.바카라 웹사이트바카라 웹사이트

Significantly, this process was going on despite the warning by the Council on Foreign Relations on바카라 웹사이트March 11, 2020 that the Taliban had “withstood” counter-insurgency operations by three US Administrations and had killed 2,400 US soldiers and 1,100 NATO troops. During the past five years it had killed 43,000 civilians and 45,000 Afghan troops and police officers.

Five days before Biden administration assumed power, Amrullah Saleh, Afghan Vice-President said that US had conceded “too much to the Taliban”. Saleh, who was a former intelligence chief, belongs to the “Northern Alliance” established by the legendary Ahmad Shah Massoud who was assassinated by al-Qaeda with Taliban help, on바카라 웹사이트September 9, 2001. He told the BBC that US delegation had pressured the Afghan government to release 5,000 Afghan prisoners although they had warned that violence would spike. “Violence has spiked” since then, he said.

How would Biden administration review the progress? Would they appoint an interlocutor as Obama government had done? Would they leave it only to the State Department? Or would they fine-tune바카라 웹사이트Zalmay Khalilzad라이브 바카라 efforts?바카라 웹사이트Would they continue military operations to “soften” the Taliban to pave way for political negotiations, which did not work earlier? Would they consult the different components of the divided government in Kabul?

Past experience has proved that the appointment of a very senior, high profile but blunt interlocutor like the late Richard Holbrooke (2009-2010) did not serve the purpose of bringing peace. Papers published by veteran New York Times journalist David Rohde바카라 웹사이트on바카라 웹사이트July 13, 2017, and by Holbrooke라이브 바카라 former aide Barnett Rubin on바카라 웹사이트February 26, 2020, indicate that fact. Rohde, who had the strange experience of being kidnapped by the Serbs in 1995 and by the Taliban in 2008 and saved on both occasions by Holbrooke says that Pakistan despised the latter라이브 바카라 expression of “Af-Pak”, which has come to stay in the diplomatic lexicon. He had also annoyed Karzai by his blunt talk.

바카라 웹사이트Biden administration should realize that Pakistan라이브 바카라 strategic aim of installing a Taliban controlled government in Kabul is only to destabilize India, irrespective of whichever political affiliation may be ruling New Delhi.바카라 웹사이트

[The writer is a former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat]