Governments cannot survive without public support. Howsoever strong a government, it will have to pay a heavy price if it alienates its people and does not listen to their grievances. The National Unity Government unfortunately did not take appropriate heed of this key principle from its inception. Both government leaders, President Ashraf Ghani and CEO Abdullah Abdullah, agreed to a power-sharing deal brokered by former US Secretary of State John Kerry instead of respecting about five million votes of their people, based on which a government was formed whose failure was unavoidable from day one.
Ghani and Abdullah, who owed their stay in power to the American mediation, promptly signed the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) with the United States without any conditions and guarantees. Not content with the signing of the BSA alone to reciprocate the American favor, they then began to embrace a softer and more compliant stance against the United States. In addition to keeping tightlipped on the casualties of civilians and Afghan security forces in foreign airstrikes and ground operations, they accepted Washington’s decisions on Afghanistan without reservation for four years and a half.
This unnecessary pliability allowed Americans to further undervalue Afghanistan’s interests in bilateral relations, and have a completely free hand in decision-makings on Afghanistan. The National Unity Government went on as further in the trend as it would consider itself part of such decision-makings without providing any proof. For example, it hailed Donald Trump’s strategy for Afghanistan and South Asia as result of its diplomatic efforts and lobbying.
The exclusion of Afghan government from ongoing US-Taliban peace negotiations and the potential plan of forming an interim or transitional government finally changed President Ghani’s stance towards the West. Looking at Ghani’s stance for the last couple of years, it is hard for many to buy into the narrative that his and his government’s recent fissures with the United States are driven by Afghanistan’s national interests. People believe that the fear of losing power prompted President Ghani to turn against the United States, especially when hopes are ever high for the political settlement of Afghan conflict. Given the sensitivity of the situation and the unprecedented opportunity for peace, all sides involved in Afghan problem must sacrifice their personal and short-term interests for those of the nation and the good of Afghan people.
