In response to President Karzai’s blunt objections to the proposed bilateral talks between the US and the Afghan Taleban, I was amazed to see the clarifications put forward by the Americans. The US rushed to claim that the Taleban office in Doha is neither an embassy nor the Taleban are an independent entity.
Was it not more appropriate if such clarifications had come either from the host country or the Taleban themselves? Why Americans are so desperate to become spokespersons for the Afghan Taleban? Americans later maneuvered to convince the Taleban to remove the Taleban flag and the sign reading “The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan” from their office in Doha.
I still remember former Secretary of State Clinton declaring that Americans would not repeat the mistakes of 1980s and would not abandon the region to its fate. But where are we heading after 2014? The Taleban will again come to power in Afghanistan at gunpoint and will provide an all-out support to their counterparts in Pakistan, TTP. Afghanistan-Pakistan border and adjoining areas are heading toward disastrous days while attempts are being made to provide a political cover for the US-led NATO troops to leave in peace.
I was also surprised to see the haste that forced the US to drop the pre-conditions for the talks with the Taleban as the militants have not neither renounced violence nor severed their ties with Al-Qaeda. What a bizarre display of hypocrisy! — Masood Khan, Jubail
Crude display of hypocrisy
