Can Pakistan Lead Afghan Peace?
For one, the Taliban claimed responsibility for last week’s suicide bombing that wounded Asadullah Khalid, the chief of Afghanistan’s intelligence service. The attack hardly bodes well for the Taliban’s commitment to peace,
Speaking truly, as of today there are so many
kinds of Talibans that i actually doubt if the "real" Talibans are alive. Nevertheless, the Mullah Omer kinda Talibs have a very clear and singular stance that they are going to keep on resisting foreign rule, so these attacks should not come as a surprise to the 'outsiders'.
much less the capabilities of Afghan intelligence.
Hmm... so they also have an 'intelligence' setup in place. Right!
Serioulsy, militaries and intelligence agencies dont grow up overnight, so the writer can keep his sarcasm to himself.
Second, putting Pakistan in charge of a negotiated settlement contradicts the State Department’s official stance of ensuring that any peace process be Afghan-led.
If they still think that keeping Pakistan out of Afghan equation is untenable, then i doubt Bushes and Obamas will ever starve.
Having Pakistan in the driver’s seat not only reveals the real balance of power in the conflict,
There shouldnt have been any doubt about this at the first place. If the doubt was there, it Uncles Sam's mistake, others have nothing to do with it.
Whereas years ago, Washington felt that it controlled the conflict and could pressure Islamabad as it saw fit, the situation seems to have reversed:
Yeah right!
As as if Yanks were so naive. It's only that they are admitting to their follies in open these days, else i am sure they very well knew who the real boss was, and guess what, they are not seeing the writing on the wall by virtue of their righteousness, but only after they have failed to bring Pakistan to its knees vis-a-vis control of Afghanis.
for years they were reluctant to tackle their Afghan-bound militants more vigorously.
Not more reluctant than our US counterparts were reluctant to tackle their Pakistan-bound militants more vigorously.
In addition, it is unclear how the majority of Afghans will feel about having their peace process led by a neighboring state
Contrary to the popular belief the majority of 'actual' Afghans feels quite easy about this. After all we have been sustaining 3 millions of them since the last 3 decades, not to mention the flour and eggs that we smuggle out to them
that acts as a de facto sanctuary for armed militants ravaging their country.
Funny.
If the writer is still unclear about how is ravaging which country, then why write the piece?
If anything, this peace plan rewards elements within Pakistan for their self-defeating support of Islamist proxies.
Agree, but if the outsiders can keep their nose to themselves, may be these proxies can die their own death.
Finally, a major reason why achieving a peaceful end state in Afghanistan has been and will continue to be so difficult is that foreign-policy planners in Washington simply lack the ability to solve the region’s most pressing geopolitical challenges. As I have previously written, the formation of a national government in Afghanistan must include a political buy-in from Islamabad. No question. Modern-day Afghan territories are tied culturally and politically to neighboring countries. Of course, the flip side of this interconnection is that it is incredibly difficult to cobble together a government in Kabul that has the support of all Afghanistan’s neighbors.
Correct!
So...if you know this already, then
tusi ithay aamb lain aye si at the first place?
For instance, the ongoing rivalry between Pakistan and India, and each country’s incentive to use Afghanistan as a proxy battleground, will likely undermine the viability of any government in Kabul. India has provided nearly $2 billion in development assistance to Afghanistan. But as the former U.S. commander in Afghanistan, retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal, wrote in his August 2009 assessment of the war, “Increasing Indian influence in Afghanistan is likely to exacerbate regional tensions and encourage Pakistani countermeasures in Afghanistan or India.”
Haha..So, if any of the you guys have a single working brain cell up there, then you must know who is to be leashed up, no?
Sadly, we have to prepare for the possibility that a lasting peaceful end state in Afghanistan may not be accomplished.
Hmm...you guys understood this simple point, after:
Spending more than USD 1000 billion
&
Killing another million Afghanis, Pakistanis and your own countrymen.
No wonder the yanks always find themselves between a rock and a hard place.
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