KABUL – A string of assassinations has sowed fear and chaos acrossAfghanistan as a fresh round of peace talks between the Afghan governmentand the Taliban begin in Qatar Tuesday.
Months of deliberations between the two sides have yielded little so far,but both parties made something of a breakthrough last year when theyfinally agreed at least on what to discuss in the next round.
Afghan government negotiators will push for a permanent ceasefire and toprotect the existing system of governance, in place since the ouster of theTaliban in 2001 by a US-led invasion in the wake of the September 11attacks.
“The talks are going to be very complicated and time-consuming,” GhulamFarooq Majroh, a government negotiator told AFP.
“But we are hopeful to arrive at a result as soon as possible as people aretired of this bloody war.”
The Taliban did not offer any comment.
The first direct talks between the warring sides opened in September aftermonths of delays, but quickly became bogged down by disputes on the basicframework of discussions and religious interpretations.
A concerted diplomatic effort from Washington finally led to a consensus.
The negotiations follow a landmark troop withdrawal deal signed in Februaryby the Taliban and Washington, which saw the US pledge to pull out allforeign forces from Afghanistan by May 2021.
Violence increases
The talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban have been marred byan increase in violence from the start, but a new trend is a wave ofhigh-profile targeted killings of officials, activists, and journalists.
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The deputy governor for Kabul province, five journalists, and a prominentelection activist have been among those assassinated in Kabul and othercities since November.
Officials blame the Taliban for the mayhem, although the Islamic Stategroup has claimed some of the assaults.
“The Taliban aim to divide the people and trigger criticism and frustrationagainst the government’s security institutions with these assassinations,”Javid Faisal, an adviser to the National Security Council, told AFP.
“But the killings are uniting people.”
Nishank Motwani, deputy director of the Afghanistan Research and EvaluationUnit think tank, said the Taliban would not formally claim responsibilityfor the political assassinations, but nevertheless wanted to demonstrate”to its cadre that the Taliban are who they are and have not changed”.
The Taliban carried out more than 18,000 attacks across the country in2020, Afghanistan’s spy chief Ahmad Zia Siraj told lawmakers this week.
The first nine months of last year saw 2,177 civilians killed and 3,822wounded, according to the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan.
Ordinary Afghans long for better security but hold little hope for animmediate improvement despite the talks.
“We have no security at all in Kabul. For how long will we need to keepburying our loved ones?” said Jamshid Mohammad, a resident of Kabul.
