KABUL: Afghan President Ashraf Ghani is being pushed to the sidelines asthe Taliban ignores his overtures for peace and negotiates instead with hisfriends, and enemies, over the future of Afghanistan.
From Doha to Moscow, the insurgents are meeting an array of envoys withcompeting interests in Afghanistan, from the United States eager towithdraw their troops to political leaders in Kabul jostling for power.
Experts say regional powers — including US foes Iran and Russia — areangling for an audience with the Taliban, who are already outlining theirvision for rule once foreign troops leave.
The elephant in the room is Ghani, whose US-backed administration has notbeen invited to the table, despite a failed year-long effort to spark adialogue with the Taliban.
“The sad irony is that Afghanistan´s government is in danger of gettingwritten out of the script of its own peace process,” analyst MichaelKugelman of the Wilson Center in Washington, DC, told AFP.
Ghani´s allies in Washington insist Afghans should lead the peace process,and ostensibly the months-long push by the US to engage the Taliban hasbeen aimed at convincing them to negotiate with the government in Kabul.
Those efforts culminated in an unprecedented six days of talks between theUS and the Taliban in Doha in January.
The marathon negotiations ended with both sides touting “progress” –spurring Afghan fears the US could cut a deal with the militants towithdraw its forces before a lasting peace with Kabul is reached.
“It´s a major snub because without the Americans, the government in Kabulcannot survive,” said Gilles Dorronsoro, a French researcher specialisingin Afghanistan.
A week later, the Taliban agreed to a rare sit-down in Russia with some ofGhani´s biggest political rivals.
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The talks in Moscow hosted by an Afghan diaspora group in Russia — whichare separate from the US negotiations — start Tuesday and would canvassthe “end of occupation, enduring peace in homeland and establishment of anintra-Afghan [system] of governance”, the Taliban said.
Frozen out for a second time, a furious Ghani vowed he would not be an idlespectator as his country´s future was debated abroad.
“Even if I have one drop of blood in my body, I am not going to surrenderto a temporary peace deal,” he railed in a speech Sunday, as details of theMoscow conference broke.
The frustration and sense of betrayal in Kabul is palpable.
Amrullah Saleh, a Ghani ally, accused those Afghan leaders travelling toMoscow for the Taliban talks — including former president Hamid Karzai –of “begging to terrorists”.
“A smile to the enemy is a blow to the national spirit,” Saleh said.
“We appreciate the efforts, but any peace talks about Afghanistan should beunder the umbrella of the Afghan government,” Afghanistan´s de facto primeminister Abdullah Abdullah said after the Doha talks. – APP/AFP
