The Taliban in China!

Last Thursday a Pakistani News Agency, The News International, revealed that a delegation of Taliban consist two-members led by Qari Din Mohammad Hanif had a trip from Qatar’s office to China, and they have negotiated with the Chinese Officials.

There are not details of the trip provided, but the news caused rumors to spread away; some, even, believe that the trip was facilitated by ISI, and some claimed that during the negotiation the Taliban demanded taking control of one province.

Background:

2014 was an important and crucial year for Afghanistan. From the beginning of 2014 it was obvious that presidential election will be held in Afghanistan, and at the end of the year NATO will change their combat mission to training and advisory mission in Afghanistan.

The neighboring and regional countries were concerned about the situation in Afghanistan, and while the fraudulent election reached the second round, it was clear that political crisis will happen. On the other hand, the thirteen-year war of the U.S. in Afghanistan also failed to achieve its goals. And since the U.S. faced military and political failure in making a stable government in Afghanistan, the neighboring countries, which were directly afraid of crisis in Afghanistan, were concerned about the situation in the country, so they decided to negotiate with the Taliban and ask their ideas about the future of Afghanistan.

Another concern of the regional countries is the issue of Middle East, which by the withdrawal of the U.S. forces from Iraq another fundamentalist group, the ISIL, which is even more dangerous than Al Qaida, arose there. The regional countries believe that if the war of Afghanistan continues, though the Taliban are weakened, another much more fundamentalist group, like the ISIL, may arise in Afghanistan, because most of the regional insecurity is, to some extent, related to Afghanistan.

It is not the first trip of the Taliban delegation to China, and even before sending delegation from the office of Qatar, the Taliban were in contact with China. While Afghanistan and China signed contract of the Ainak Coper Mine, the Taliban sent delegation to China.

Rule of China in Afghan Peace:

President Ashraf Ghani’s second trip after the inauguration ceremony was to China after the trip of Saudi Arabia. While visiting Chinese officials he was hopeful that China has close relations with Pakistan and it can force Pakistan to play positive role in the peace process of Afghanistan, and the Chinese officials also promised that they are ready for that.

The Taliban delegation trip to China was based on an informal invitation of Chinese officials, and the aim of the Chinese officials from the negotiation with Talban delegation was to know the ideas of the Taliban about Afghanistan after the complete withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan in 2016. Though there are rumors published by Afghan media, but we cannot trust them, and all we can say is that it is nothing except guessing. Because, while even the members of the delegation, except Din Mohammad Hanif, are not yet known, so how the media can speak of the agenda of the negotiation?!

But we can see changes in the position in the stances of the various parties that are involved in the case of Afghanistan. The Taliban ensure other countries that those countries will not face any threat from Afghan territory in the future. Their insurance is consistent to the statement of the U.S. that said that the Taliban and their leaders like Mullah Mohammad Omar are not the U.S. enemies after 2014, to the extent that the Taliban are direct threats to the interest of the U.S.

Using the Past Experience:

The Taliban should think of the failed experiences of the Mujahidin after the withdrawal of the Russian Forces from Afghanistan in 1989, which caused the below challenges for Mujahidin:

1. The Mujahidin separated to small groups among them, and lost unity among them.
2. The Mujahidin, with any cost, were not agreed to the government of Dr. Najibullah.
3. The Mujahidin counted the army of the country as their enemies and wanted to dissolve it.
4. The Mujahidin were excluded from the Soviet Union, the U.S., and Afghan negotiation, and instead of them, Pakistan participated in the Geneva negotiation.
5. The Mujahidin did not have a clear imagination after the fall of Dr. Najibullah’s regime, and though they had enough time, they were surprised.
6. The Mujahidin made the mistake that they thought that they have done a great job for the West, so the West and the U.S. will stand with them, and they will not face any challenge, which was wrong.
7. The Cold War was ended, but yet the Mujahidin leaders were thinking as they were in the situation of the Cold War.

The regional and global events of the time were also not in accordance with the interests of the Afghan Nation. For example, one of the main promising parties in the Geneva- the Soviet Union- accidently destroyed.

On the other hand, the regional and global countries were not interested in solving the problem of Afghanistan, but each one of them was trying to continue proxy war in Afghanistan.

Therefore, the Mujahidin were not able to sing an agreement after the overthrow of Dr. Najibullah’s regime, so Afghanistan became the spot of war among them.

That is why the Taliban want to have direct negotiation with the U.S., and they declared that they do not want to monopolize power. They expressed their readiness for negotiation about the issue of Afghanistan, and they want other countries to act as mediators.

The Taliban have the preference of staying under united leadership up to date compared to the Mujahidin. They do not ignore the rule of the government in the future of the country, but they are interested to share power with them. And most importantly, they have gained experiences from the mistakes of the Mujahidin. Those are the positive signs of reaching peace in this war-affected country.

The End