“Doha process a failure for the US, they have been unable to force Taliban to a ceasefire’

As the Taliban intensified its horrific onslaught on Kabul and other cities of Afghanistan last week, the seventh round of dialogue between US Special Representative for Afghanistan Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and Taliban representatives took place in Doha. On Saturday the dialogue was halted in order to accommodate an intra-Afghan dialogue hosted by Qatar and Germany in Doha. To make sense of what is happening International Affairs Review spoke to Shershah Nawabi, the Editor-in-Chief of Pasbanan Media Group, Kabul.

There has been a huge Taliban assault on Kabul on Monday, July 1^st. Can you tell us how, where, and what is the extent of the attack?

The attack was launched in PD16 of Kabul , which is around 500 meters away from the Afghanistan Defence Ministry and also around 800 meters away from the Afghan Presidential palace. The Taliban were responsible for the attack and the group claimed that in this brutal attack dozens of Afghan Army forces were killed. The main target of this attack was the Directorate of Engineering, Logistics, and Technical Institution of the Defence Ministry. Initially a medium sized truck exploded in the area which caused massive destruction. In this area, unfortunately, is housed several civilian houses, which were damaged.

In this attack by the Taliban a residential town called Gulbahar Tower Town was also partly damages. At least 51 students were injured in a school was located in the Gulbahar Tower Town, called Uzair Number 2. At least 15 people were dead, including one and half years old child, and around 120 people have been injured.

The US Special Representative for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad has been holding the seventh round of talks with the Taliban. Can you explain why the Taliban decided to execute this attack, when they are already in a dialogue process?

 The seventh round of peace talks between the Taliban and the US negotiator Zalmay Khalilzad has already begun in Qatar. The Taliban launched this attack was to gain the upper hand in the negotiations. So the Taliban military commission decided to launch this attack for three reasons. First, they are willing to show us that they are more powerful; second, they wanted to demonstrate that they have the ability to fight with Afghans; and third, they wanted to create fear amongst Afghans, [its a] warning that they can do what they want to.

Meanwhile, this attack demonstrates that the Taliban have won militarily, and that would force the US troops to leave the country as soon as possible.

What is your opinion of the on-going Doha process? How do you see it proceeding. Ambassador Khalilzad has said they have made spectacular progress this time. How successful do you think it can be?

At the onset, the Doha process is a complete failure for the United States because they have been unable to force the Taliban to launch a long term ceasefire. Secondly, this process is completely in favour of the Taliban and that is encouraging it to show their attitude and engage in violence, to prove that the group is able to defeat the US at any cost. And third, because of this success of the Taliban, I do not have hope from the current peace talks because there is no sign of political will from the Taliban to truly engage with the second round of intra-Afghan peace talks with the Afghan government.

As the intra-Afghan peace talks were starting the Taliban launched another deadly attack in Ghazni provice.

What are the main demands of the Taliban? How do you think this latest attack will impact the negotiations between Khalilzad and the Taliban and also intra-Afghan talks?

First, the Taliban are demanding the immediate withdrawal of US and NATO forces from Afghanistan within 6-9 months but the US believes that an early withdrawal will once again begin a new crisis for Afghanistan and it will once again become a terrorist safe haven.

Well, according to me, the violence will never harm the Taliban and US peace talks, because the Taliban believes that such attacks will provide an opportunity for it to bargain from a position of greater strength and derive maximum concessions from the talks.

Do you think these attacks prove the weakness of the Afghan government and the Afghan defense forces?

Well, no, I cannot say that this attack was due to the weakness of the Afghan forces but rather it shows the change in the nature of the war and the Taliban tactics. While it will give the Taliban an  upper hand in the negotiations, they are daily losing on an average 45 fighters, and that is why they are launching attacks to stop the Afghan forces and to instill fear amongst Afghans.ows the

Will the government be taking any new measures in terms of security or any new political measure after these recent attacks?

Well, I guess that the government has its measures for preventing such attacks but unfortunately there was intelligence failure, lack of intelligence, and weakness on the part of the security forces and these are the main issues that should be tackled. And third, unless we stop witnessing Pakistani interference in Afghanistan we will not see such attacks ended. Because the main planner or designer of these attacks are the ISI [Pakistan’s intelligence agency] and they are looking for strategic depth in Afghanistan.

Do you think this is a setback to the peace and reconciliation process in Afghanistan?

No, we cannot say that this is a setback to the peace and reconciliation process in Afghanistan but this will be an addition to the Taliban’s image and clearly demonstrate the limits they are willing to go to to achieve the withdrawal of US and NATO troops from Afghanistan and that they will not share power with the Afghan government.

Do you think such a scenario gives countries like Russia and Iran an advantage in Afghanistan?

In fact this issue gives countries like Russia and Iran an upper hand to control regional tensions and has created a new problem as the US, which is talking to the Taliban, is challenged.

Aditi Bhaduri

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