Afghanistan Peace Process: From Terrible Times to Glimpse of Hope

Abstract

The potential of peace as of now is resting on four pillars of proposed peace deal which include ceasefire, counter-terrorism, troop withdrawal and intra-Afghan negotiations. Appointment of former Taliban commander Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar as chief negotiator to lead the peace process on behalf of Afghan Taliban is a sigh of relief. His influence over Taliban’s of Afghanistan being the most respected leader after former Mullah Umer is without any doubt an important endeavor to forestall challenges to lasting peace. This paper makes the point that sustainability of peace process in Afghanistan is vested on the foundations of trust between Taliban and United States, which due to prevailing geo-political conditions is less likely to achieve. The fundamental demand of the Taliban has been withdrawal of the US troops, whereas the Americans have never demanded concrete guarantees from Taliban since they have been called terrorists from the very beginning. The draft of the proposed deal had reflected US demand as denying safe heaven to non-state actors that Taliban themselves would like to ensure. Taking the lead from geopolitical landscape of Afghanistan, this study had undertaken an analysis from the failures of previous peace dialogues to reflect insights on the ongoing peace talk between Taliban and United States. The study is deductive in nature and has applied Regional Complex Security Theory of Barry Buzan with subjective interpretations to delve upon the parameters associated with the complications of Afghan peace process.