Three American soldiers and a contractor were killed in a suicide attack on Monday near Bagram Airfield, the main US base in Afghanistan. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the bombing. US Foreign Secretary Mike Pompeo has condemned the attack, calling it a “tragic incident”. According to him, American service members are in Afghanistan for the security of the United States, and are also trying to restore stability to Afghanistan. He said that “terrorist attacks” would not affect ongoing American efforts to bring peace to the country. The attack comes as American diplomats are set to meet with Taliban representatives in Qatar in another round of peace talks in the near future. Such attacks and violence in general regardless of who unleashes them can hurt peace efforts. Although Pompeo has said such incidents cannot adversely affect American efforts aimed at bringing Afghan conflict to a negotiated end, their continuation doubtlessly can shrink chances of building trust between the warring sides. Peace talks will less likely succeed in a climate of mistrust.
Now that peace negotiations between Americans and the Taliban have made significant progress and that Afghan government is due to join intra-Afghan dialogue, both sides have to take steps to cement trust rather than break it by unleashing violent attacks against each other as a military showdown. The focus of intra-Afghan dialogue and next round of US-Taliban talks must be the reduction of level of violence in the country. Before disruptive elements scuttle ongoing peace talks, Afghan and American interlocutors should convince the Taliban to accept ceasefire. Continued violence allows saboteurs, which see peace in Afghanistan as a threat to their interests, to cultivate mistrust between the two sides through disruptive activities, thereby killing the golden opportunity to bring an end to the war in Afghanistan. The Taliban also have to realize the sensitivity of the situation, and don’t underestimate the blame for the failure of peace talks.