While the United States has already held several rounds of marathon talks with the Taliban, national consensus on peace in Afghanistan is yet to be achieved. Afghan government and opposition leaders and groups continue to be on loggerheads over peace. The President Ghani-led administration is striving to take ownership and leadership of the peace negotiation with the Taliban, but it has not succeeded so far to form an inclusive, acceptable national team. Politicians outside the government want government representatives to join political figures, who are due to meet in the near future with Taliban representatives in Qatar, as a follow-up to the intra-Afghan Moscow peace conference held in early February 2019. Both sides even seem to be at odds over the date of the consultative Loya Jirga on peace.
National consensus is a prerequisite for the success of peace talks. Before US-Taliban negotiations make more progress, Afghan government and opposition leaders must find common grounds, and engage with the Taliban with a united stance. The disagreement between the government and opposition leaders can further strengthen Taliban’s stance in peace talks. Such division also supports Taliban’s claims that peace talks with Afghan side, especially the government, are futile because it lacks internal unity and cannot implement decisions and agreements made as part of a possible peace deal. Moreover, this very shortcoming allows the United States to take up issues with Taliban on behalf of Afghans that have nothing to do with Americans.
If government and opposition political leaders do not bridge their disagreement, neither the upcoming talks with Taliban can produce tangible results not can the decisions of the consultative peace Loya Jirga lead to a national consensus on peace because an overwhelming majority of Afghan politicians will be kept out of the mechanism. Given the sensitivity of time and the fact that Americans have gone too far with the Taliban and apparently agreed upon US troop withdrawal timeline, the government and politician leaders must concentrate on finding common grounds than fueling discords. The government must take the lead and work together with opposition leaders to form a negotiating team that is acceptable to all Afghan parties.
