An Answer to Washigton Post

Recently, news in the Washington Post read, “Afghan president Hamid Karzai signed off on the establishment of an office for Taliban at Doha in Qatar so that the militant group can hold talks with the United States.

The Afghan president has expressed hope that peace talks between the two sides would eliminate the foreigner’s excuses to use Afghanistan as a battlefield against terrorist groups.”
This step seems to be mocking the people in the war-hit country of Afghanistan. What is the need of taking this extreme step now when already the country has been ravaged due to the on-going war between Taliban and the US led peace forces? Already thousands of people have given up their lives and numerous families devastated in this war-stricken country. Now by giving an office to this extremist group in Doha, is the US not back stabbing the people of Afghanistan? If the US thinks that by taking this step Afghan peace can be guaranteed then when he lead the invasion into the territory of this very torn and ravaged nation ruled by Taliban can be avoided and the nation and international community would be living much more in peace and harmony when the same Taliban put across its demands in front of the US but at that time the American vision was wearing the glasses covered by the misty layer of pride and over-confidence. Hundreds and thousands of innocent lives could had been saved if the US and its coalition partners given a second thought about that time then this wouldn’t be the scenario and situation as it is today.
By taking this step, the US is not only compromising on its own ethics but is also giving way to other extremist groups who either have regimes in some country or are surviving despite a ban. Through this step, the entire coalition has shown to the world that they are themselves giving importance to the group they have been fighting with over a decade now. This step has been taken only to please some uncouth people who not only destroyed their farmlands by large scale opium production but also made the people throughout the world addicted to it!
Obama and Karzai are perhaps riding high on the success of Osama’s death and are therefore making the biggest mistake of giving a platform to the Taliban. It needs to be understood that neither Karzai is in a position nor has the capacity to make Qatar accept the request for providing base to terrorists who are the most sought after in Afghan front lines. Another problem with this initiative is that the coalition has not involved Haqqani network in the negotiations while recognizing this group as a major wing of the Taliban. Besides, even Gulbuddin Hekmatyar should also be treated on the same lines as the group led by Mohammed Omar that only consists of losers shouting from behind the closed quarters of Quetta.
It seems that both the US and Karzai are puzzled as how to solve the worsening situation in Afghanistan. This recognition to the world’s biggest terrorist outfit will bring it into active Afghan politics and disturb the future of the country. By asking the Taliban to adhere and accept the constitution of Afghanistan is the most impractical expectation of the coalition. This will only give this outfit a way to govern people in their own ways by tweaking the constitution to their will.
It is therefore imperative that media, specifically the Washington Post should act sensibly and not publish such news in a lucrative manner. Instead of presenting this piece of news in a neutral way, the international media should condemn the step taken by the Afghan government and ISAF. It is the need of the day and media’s responsibility to initiate a campaign to ensure that the respected regimes think twice before taking such measures which can bring the world face to face again with situations like 9/11 which was carried out by the same Taliban and its associates.

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