A new study conducted by the Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies (AISS) on a potential political settlement in Afghanistan suggests that the establishment of an interim government can be taken as a solution to the conflict in Afghanistan.
The study titled “Political Settlement of the Afghanistan Conflict: Divergent Models” states that the Taliban is willing for the establishment of an interim government.
However, the study warns that if the conditions for the establishment of an interim government are not taken into consideration, this will lead to the political collapse of the present government.
The study explores and analyses different possibilities of a political settlement in Afghanistan.
It basically assesses the prospects of four different forms of political settlement: the inclusion of insurgents in the elections, decentralization of power, power sharing, and an interim government.
The study says the Taliban’s lack of willingness to participate in the system through national elections can be explained by several factors.
The Taliban abhorred from recognizing the current representative democracy for two reasons, the research says, adding that first, they claim that it has been imposed by the western superpower, the US, and second, the Taliban claims that representative democracy is not compatible with Islamic Sharia based on their own reading.
“Instead, they (Taliban) refer to their version of government as Islamic Emirate, which is a theocratic government,” the study says.
“Findings of the study show that the Taliban are not willing to join a democratic system, but they are willing to ponder to some kind of strategy such as peace process, political settlement, transition or interim government,” said AISS researcher Omar Sadr.
“Religion-based system has not given positive result anywhere in the world. But I don’t know what is the Taliban’s perspective for Afghanistan,” said Jawed Ludin, former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.
He said the Taliban has changed over the past two decades, and a new generation of the Taliban has emerged, noting that the changes are more negative.
“We should not forget that one of our humanitarian obligations while we were doing the study is to address the issue of the war victims. Because most of people in the society are the victims of war,” said Azizullah Rafiee, a human rights activist.
Meanwhile, President Ashraf Ghani, who addressed a gathering in Kunar, said that those who want the establishment of an interim government should participate in the elections and secure people’s votes.
“These people who talk about an interim government while elections are ahead of us, I want to ask them that lets enter the (election) race,” said Ghani.
This comes amid the fifth round of peace talks between the US negotiators and the Taliban in Doha.
According to the US Department of State, the talks are focusing on four key issues and that both sides are trying to reach a final agreement.
