Some prominent and former members of the Taliban on Sunday said that negotiators from the US embassy in Kabul had consulted them on how to restart the stalled peace talks process.
The Americans have suggested the talks be resumed as soon as possible, said former Taliban commander Sayed Akbar Agha, adding that direct talks between the US and the Taliban would put the process back on track.
Meanwhile officials from the High Peace Council (HPC) have warmly welcomed the recent efforts by the US and some other nations towards restarting the peace process in Afghanistan.
“To jump start the peace process in Afghanistan, we need regional, international cooperation and also support from religious scholars from the Islamic world,” said HPC spokesman Sayed Ehsan Tahiri.
This comes after reports recently emerged that US officials secretly met with Taliban leaders on a few occasions.
“Talks were held on peace and on how to bring Afghanistan out of the crisis and what is the solution to the problems facing Afghanistan; I told them (Americans) that the way you want to resolve your problems, the Afghans are also willing to resolve their problems in line with the interests of the country,” said ex-Taliban commander Sayed Akbar Agha.
Meanwhile, a member of US senate’s intelligence committee Adam Bennett Schiff has said that the US should think about a political settlement around the conflict in Afghanistan rather than insisting on a military option.
“I would say that Secretary (of Defense James) Mattis has defined the victory better than anyone I have seen. As I understand how he has defined it, is that it is not a military victory, but a political victory where we have a political resolution and even that is not a wholesale negotiated outcome of the Taliban, merely a negotiated outcome with certain elements of the Taliban and the necessity to continue to suppress those that are not willing to leave the fight,” said Schiff.
But some US officials say the long-term presence of the US in Afghanistan is necessary.
“We have realized that what we are doing in Afghanistan and what we are doing in Iraq is not just about Afghanistan or about Iraq, it is about the regional challenges we face in south and central Asia and in the larger Middle East,” said Thomas Shannon Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs.
Last week New York Times reported that US President Donald Trump’s administration has told its top diplomats to seek direct talks with the Taliban, a move which is interpreted as a significant shift in US policy in Afghanistan, done in the hope of jump-starting negotiations to end the 17-year war.
US officials also told Reuters that the United States is preparing to undertake a review of its strategy in Afghanistan.
The Taliban has long said it will discuss peace only with the Americans. But the US has mostly insisted that the Afghan government must take the lead.
Taliban called for direct talks with US
On February 27, the Taliban called for direct talks with the US to find a “peaceful solution” to the conflict in Afghanistan, after months of escalating attacks.
In a statement posted online following the call for direct talks, the Taliban said it “calls on American officials to talk directly to the Political Office of Islamic Emirate regarding a peaceful solution to the Afghan quandary.”
The Taliban, which views the Afghan government as illegitimate, has long said that the militant group would only negotiate with the US. The US has generally insisted that the Afghan government must be involved.
Trump ruled out direct talks
In January, Trump ruled out holding talks with the Taliban, following a spate of deadly bombings by militants in Kabul and other major Afghan towns which killed and wounded hundreds of Afghan civilians and military personnel.
The attacks included an assault on the capital's luxury Intercontinental Hotel, an ambulance bomb in a crowded street and a raid on a military compound, that killed more than 130 people.
“I don’t see any talking taking place,” Trump said at the time.
“I don’t think we’re prepared to talk right now. It’s a whole different fight over there. They’re killing people left and right. Innocent people are being killed left and right,” he said.
Conflicting messages on talks
But the Trump administration sent out conflicting messages on talks with the Taliban. In September 2017, US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis underscored that the point of expanding military involvement in Afghanistan was to drive the Taliban to the negotiating table.
“I want to reinforce to the Taliban that the only path to peace and political legitimacy for them is through a negotiated settlement,” Mattis said.
But several months later, following a spate of coordinated attacks by the Taliban in Kabul, Trump said the US had no interest in talking to the Taliban. “So there’s no talking to the Taliban. We don’t want to talk to the Taliban. We’re going to finish what we have to finish,” Trump said.
But earlier this month, during a surprise visit to Afghanistan, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo promised that the US would support Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s efforts to restart peace talks with the Taliban, following a successful simultaneous ceasefire the previous month.
“An element of the progress is the capacity that we now have to believe that there is now hope,” Pompeo said.
“Many of the Taliban now see that they can’t win on the ground militarily. That’s … deeply connected to President Trump’s strategy,” he added.
In recent weeks US officials have flown to Afghanistan and Pakistan where they reportedly tried to lay the groundwork for these talks and assure the Afghans that they are only meant to be a precursor to broader talks.
Unilateral Ceasefire
As part of his good-will gesture for peace, on June 7, Ghani announced a ceasefire with the Taliban after 2,000 religious scholars met in Kabul and issued a fatwa against the ongoing war in the country.
“With the ceasefire announcement, we emphasize the strength of the Afghan government and the will of the people for a peaceful resolution to the Afghan conflict,” Ghani said in a video message.
“This ceasefire is an opportunity for the Taliban to realize that their violent campaign is not winning them hearts and minds but further alienating the Afghan people from their cause," Ghani said.
Taliban Responded
The Taliban on June 9 issued a statement saying it had ordered its fighters not to clash with Afghan security forces for the first three days of Eid.
In the statement sent to the media, the Taliban said its fighters would not launch attacks against Afghan security forces but that they would defend themselves if necessary.
The move by both sides was widely welcomed – even by NATO, European Union, and UN officials among others.
A successful three-day ceasefire transpired over Eid, but immediately after the truce was up on the Taliban’s part, the insurgent group launched widespread attacks across the country.
Pakistan’s Afghan Policy
Afghan officials have meanwhile continued to say that to end the war in the country, it is necessary to convince Pakistan to endorse peace and security in Afghanistan by ending its military and financial support to the Taliban leadership, something Pakistan has always denied.
US officials have also repeatedly called on Pakistan to do more in terms of fighting the Taliban.
In his first tweet of 2018, Trump accused Pakistan of providing safe havens to terrorist groups.
However, Pakistan continues to reject the claims and insist they are not harboring or funding the Taliban.
