Iqbal Khan

According to New York Time, keeping in view rising violence, “some Afghans carry notes with their names, blood types and relatives’ phone numbers in case they are killed or severely wounded.The bearers of pocket notes hope the slips of paper will help emergency medical workers identify an injured person’s blood type for a lifesaving transfusion. They might also help authorities quickly summon family members for precious final moments with a mortally wounded loved one. And they could help identify a badly disfigured corpse”. Both Washington and the Taliban blame each other for violating the peace accord.

Notwithstanding, war weariness is phenomenal in Afghanistan. Commoners are desperately yearning for peace. Pressure is mounting of intra-Afghan negotiators for agreeing to stop the war. Voice of America reported that on December 31, more than 100 key religious scholars of the western region declared the war in Afghanistan illegitimate and deemed a ceasefire “an obligation” during a gathering in the Herat Grand Mosque. The scholars decried the slaughter of Muslims and said those who kill innocent civilians will be punished by God.

Peace is a priority, because if there is no peace, nobody can meet his or her obligations, said MaulawiKhudadad Saleh, chairman of the Ulema Council in Afghanistan’s western region. “Religious scholars call on the government and the Taliban to declare a ceasefire as soon as possible and create an opportunity for a lasting and inclusive peace,” he said. “The so-called version of Islam that the Taliban promote as an Islamic system is not acceptable to the Afghan people and religious scholars,” he said. “The Taliban do not have the right to choose a [so-called] Islamic system for the Afghan nation, because the current system is [in fact] Islamic.”Every day, innocent civilians are killed, said Toor Muhammad Zarifi, a tribal elder in Herat Province, calling for an immediate stop to the bloodshed suffered by Afghans. “Security forces and the Taliban, who are all the children of this country, lose their lives every day,” he said.

“The war has been intensified, and the casualties have increased.” The Taliban’s killing of security personnel and of civilians is illegitimate, and the perpetrators will face God’s punishment, according to Maulawi Sayed ShiraqaQatali, a religious scholar in Herat city. “Civilians and religious scholars call for a lasting and inclusive peace in the country,” “The killing of our loved ones needs to stop, and we cannot tolerate seeing killing, suicide attacks and destruction every day, he added.”

Ayaz Gul reported for the Voice of America on January 04 that:the United States has directly accused the Taliban of being behind a recent wave of high-profile assassinations in Afghanistan, urging the insurgent group to stop the violence “for peace to succeed.” These charges came soon after the Taliban accused US forces of launching airstrikes against insurgent-held areas in violation of their 2020 bilateral agreement aimed at ending the long-running Afghan war.A spokesman for US forces in Afghanistan rejected as “false” allegations they violated the agreement with the Taliban.Colonel Sonny Leggett stressed in a statement that the US military has been “clear and consistent” in its resolve to defend Afghan security forces against Taliban attacks.“We renew our call for all sides to reduce violence,” Leggett said on Twitter. “The Taliban’s campaign of unclaimed attacks & targeted killings of government officials, civil society leaders & journalists must also cease for peace to succeed.”

This is the first time Washington has blamed the Taliban for weeks of largely unclaimed attacks in the Afghan capital, Kabul, and elsewhere Afghanistan..The violence has over the past two months claimed the lives of at least five journalists, a provincial deputy governor, civilian society activists and a renowned election observer.

Taliban have denied involvement and instead alleged the violence is the work of so-called “spoilers” within Afghan security institutions to subvert the peace process.Taliban issued a statement accusing US troops of repeatedly carrying out airstrikes on Taliban-held areas in Kandahar, Nangarhar and Helmand provinces “over the past few days” in support of Afghan security forces.

According to Taliban spokesman ZabihullahMujahid, the airstrikes have hit targets in “non-military zones” in violations of their February 29, 2020, agreement with the US.Mujahid demanded of theUS military immediately halt the air raids and warned the Taliban “will be forced to respond seriously, and all responsibility shall fall squarely on American shoulders.”

An Afghan analyst Syed Eqbal also sees prospects of a shift – though not very drastic – in the US policy towards the Afghan peace process. “There is no doubt that the ultimate thrust in Washington has shifted over the years from defeating the Taliban on the battlefield to a so-called ‘dignified’ exit from Afghanistan, but it [exit of forces from Afghanistan] is going to differ under the new president,” he told Anadolu Agency. He added that the Afghan government under President Ashraf Ghani would dearly want the Biden administration not to ‘rush’ with the exit.

According to RahimullahYusufzai, “A circle within the Democrats does not want a complete pull out. They may force Biden to keep at least one or two bases in Afghanistan even after May.”. “The surging violence in Afghanistan may give an excuse to Biden to seek a review of the Doha agreement”,Yusufzai said. “The implementation of the Doha peace agreement could face problems, especially the deadline for withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, as the intra-Afghan dialogue is not really making progress and the violence has intensified,” Rahimullah, told Anadolu Agency.

ZabihullahMujahid, a Taliban spokesperson, said US forces had conducted airstrikes against the group in non-military zones. He warned of retaliation if the attacks do not stop. Colonel Sonny Leggett, a spokesperson for US forces in Afghanistan, termed the allegations as “false” and said the strikes were defensive and renewed calls for all sides to reduce violence. “The Taliban’s campaign of unclaimed attacks & targeted killings of government officials, civil society leaders & journalists must also cease for peace to succeed,” he said in a tweet.

Bringing a win-win closing to Afghan conflict is a big challenge for the US as well as the international community. Fault lines are too strong to give way to reconciliation. Taliban have timed out Trump, it will be interesting to see how the things evolve further. Incoming Joe Biden administration could reconsider the plans for a complete military pull out from Afghanistan and decide to keep some troops, as residual garrison, in line with President Obama era Bilateral Security Agreement between the US and Afghanistan..

Writer is a freelance columnist; e-mail:[email protected]

Ambassador® Syed Hasan Javed

Brief Introduction of the Book

The Book gives an eye witness account of China’s astounding transformation from 1979 to 2019, with a Postscript on how China dealt so successfully with Corona Virus Pandemic in 2020. The Author has spent a decade in China in two diplomatic assignments in Pakistan Embassy in Beijing during two epoch making eras of 1980-1987 and 2001-2003. He has also visited China subsequently more than a dozen times. He has witnessed personally from Ground zero and the vantage point of Beijing, as to how the Reformist leadership under Deng Xiaoping confronted the deep rooted challenges of the Centrally Planned Economy’s transition to Socialist Market Economy. The Book lists the hard decisions, Comprehensive Reforms and Policy Initiatives that permeated all sectors of Chinese life, society, governance, economy, foreign relations and worldview etc. China’s progress and success on this scale, was never even within the wildest imagination of China Watchers abroad or in China itself.

The absence of China expertise globally has left many in the Western world shocked to know of China’s rise, while it has left many of its friends, allies and well-wishers in the Developing countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America equally mesmerized. No amount of adverse propaganda can revert the clock of history! China has achieved in four decades (1979-2019), what took the Western world 400 years to achieve. China did it all on the strength of its Cultural heritage, governance system, visionary leadership and Soft Power.The Author feels that China’s rise is still in its initial phase. It however offers some very useful lessons for all the Developing countries, particularly Pakistan. Pakistan for a number of reasons is best placed to emulate China’s success story, but for this to happen, Pakistan needs to adopt multifaceted, home cooked Comprehensive Policy reforms, take hard decisions, tackling squarely the challenges it has avoided so far. The ruling elite of Pakistan needs a ‘mindset change’ and be prepared to revive the national institutions, structures and governance, to harness the underlying potential of the country. Pakistan is among the ‘best blessed and placed countries for the Future’. Pakistan only needs to get out from the specter of despondency, dependency, debt trap and decline,of its Development template, by adopting the sustainable short cut provided by ‘China’s Model of Development’. China learnt from the world. It is now the turn of the World to learn from China.

This Book is available at Contact E- mail; [email protected]