US plan could help accelerate stalled Afghan peace talks

The recently floated US draft for a deal between the Taliban and the Afghan government is the best chance to accelerate stalled peace talks between the country’s warring sides, former Afghan president Hamid Karzai said.

After decades of war and conflict, the Afghans themselves “are in a hurry for peace” and eager to start to heal their nation, Mr Karzai told reporters.

Frustrated by escalating violence and the slow pace of negotiations that have been underway in Qatar since last year, Washington handed both sides in the protracted conflict a proposal for peace, a copy of which reporters obtained earlier this week.

Mr Karzai, considered a key player in the talks going forward, said that the proposed US peace plan contains important provisions that could help bring peace to Afghanistan – with some revisions by both sides.

Despite Mr Karzai’s optimistic assessment, the Washington plan could encounter serious opposition from president Ashraf Ghani and the Taliban. Mr Ghani opposes the idea of an interim government as part of a transition period, viewing it as an attempt to diminish his power.

Some Taliban practices, particularly on the public role of women and demands for an Islamic system, may run contrary to ideas put forward by the United States.

Mr Karzai, who served as Afghan president from 2001 to 2014, does not have a formal role in the negotiations but is seen as an important player.

He is consulted routinely by Washington’s peace envoy, Zalmay Khalilzad, and has been instrumental in bringing political opponents to the table.

Mr Karzai said the US proposal can shepherd a war-weary nation to elections; it protects rights of women and minorities, offers a way to achieve constitutional reform and proffers an interim administration.

The US has already tried to convey the need for quick action to the negotiators. In a letter to Mr Ghani that accompanied the proposal, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said it is urgent Afghanistan’s warring sides find a peaceful end to a war that has gone on for nearly 20 years and cost the US nearly $1 trillion. Mr Karzai said that Afghans themselves “are in a hurry for peace”.

“Peace is such a deep, deep, deeply desired wish of the Afghan people,” he said.

“You can’t imagine how much of a hurry we are in to reach peace for us and for our younger ones.”

He expressed hope that the US proposal could serve as a catalyst for both sides to make peace perhaps even before May 1 – the deadline for a final US troop withdrawal under a US-Taliban deal reached a year ago. For now, the talks in Qatar appear hopelessly stalled, with the negotiators still arguing over the agenda. Mr Karzai did not elaborate on his cause for optimism.

Meanwhile, Washington is still reviewing the Taliban deal with the Trump administration, signed on February 29, 2020. Mr Blinken said in his letter to Mr Ghani that a withdrawal of US troops by May 1 was still on the table.

Mr Karzai said he was against the May 1 withdrawal of US and Nato troops, warning it would create chaos. He said it was in both Washington’s and Kabul’s interest to have a responsible exit.

Online Editors