With their offensive operations picking up pace and provincial capitals falling like dominoes, hard-line elements within Afghanistan’s Taliban militia are pushing for an outright military takeover Kabul and rejection of any power-sharing formula, The Truth International (TTI) can report.
“The Taliban leadership is feeling the pressure from their hard-line fighters to take Kabul by force”, sources in Afghanistan told TTI. “They do not favour any sharing formula.
“This group is of the view that the Taliban have rendered sacrifices for almost two decades, and now when they have defeated the superpower [US], nothing should be allowed to dilute their victory”.
Media reports out of Afghanistan speak of Taliban rumbling in several parts of the country. As we go to the press, the word is that the puritan militia has seized control of eight provincial capitals in five days.
Afghan Taliban claim taking total control of Badakhshan’s capital city Faizabad and Baghlan’s provincial capital Pul-e Khumri. In a statement released to media, Taliban key spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed they have captured nine out of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan.
The Taliban military strategy has apparently moved into a higher gear with the militia now moving to take over provincial capitals. Meanwhile, Kabul does not seem to have a solid strategy to counter the Taliban onslaught, with Afghan forces either tactically retreating or surrendering to Taliban fighters.
On the other hand, it may be too early to write off the Afghan government, which has a modern air force in addition to 300,000 well-trained military and police forces.
In the first phase of their strategy to build pressure on the Kabul, Taliban moved on the district capitals and seized key supply routes. They now control the trade routes from south to north and west. This has seriously hobbled Kabul’s ability to supply weapons to provinces.
Among the provincial capitals taken by Taliban are Kandahar, Helmand, Takhar, Kunduz, Nimruz, and Saman- gan while fierce fighting is raging in several provinces in the north and west.
Taliban are releasing pictures of the surrendering soldiers and government officials to media. They have codenamed this offensive “al Fatah” or the victory. Afghan top leadership have been deliberating on the security plan to protect the rest of the provinces, and retake the districts lost to Taliban.
Afghanistan senior leader Marshal Abdul Rashid Dostum has arrived after some medical treatment, and met President Ashraf Ghani to discuss the prevailing security situation.
The peace process is said to be at standstill at the moment, as both sides focused on the battlefield. The world is calling upon the warring sides to cease fire and return to the table to work out a peace settlement.
Everyone is convinced that the continued violence could bring destruction and misery to the people of Afghanistan. But the pace of the fighting suggests Taliban are in no mood to accept anything short of a military takeover of Kabul.
The hard-line Taliban argue that the US led coalition forces ousted them of Kabul illegally and unjustly, so with the invaders leaving, they have every right to return to Kabul as victors.
They are not prepared to recognise the legitimacy of Dr Ashraf Ghani’s government, which they say is a regime imposed upon the Afghan people by foreign forces.
The international community including Pakistan has made it clear to Taliban that they would not accept a military takeover of Kabul.
According to Dawn news, “National Security Adviser Dr Moeed Yusuf has said that Pakistan will not accept a “forceful
takeover” in Afghanistan and instead supports a political solution to the war-torn country’s conflict.”
“We will not accept a forceful takeover,” he told reporters at a press conference held at the Pakistan embassy in Washington, DC, wrapping up a week of talks with the US administration. He said the only solution for Afghanistan is a political one.
Pakistan is being blamed for supporting Taliban through safe havens inside Pakistan. Allegations to this effect have been levelled by Kabul as well as reported in some international media outlets. Islamabad has consistently denied any such sanctuaries on its side of the Afghan border.
In a recent interview, Prime Minister Imran khan publicly denied such reports, adding, Pakistan had been hosting nearly three million Afghan refugees for decades, and thousands crossed the border into and out of Pakistan every day. If some militants are indeed crossing the border in the guise of Afghan refugees, this can be highly dangerous for Pakistan.
But unlike the past, Pakistan has taken a firm stance of not accepting military takeover of Afghanistan, in line with the international consensus to persuade both sides to agree on a peaceful settlement of the decades-long conflict.
Instability in Afghanistan will pose a serious threat to the whole region and world, but Pakistan will suffer the most as it shares over 1,600 miles of border with Afghanistan.
In a television interview, Pakistan former senior diplomat Dr Maleeha Lodhi expressed serious concerns for Pakistan.
“It is the most dangerous time for Pakistan”, she said. “Pakistan’s stance on Afghanistan is aligned with the international consensus. It is agreed internationally that no such government will be accepted, if it is formed as a result of military takeover.”
She was commenting on a recent emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Afghanistan, as some officials on ground were sharing the worsening situation.
She said it was high time for Afghanistan, and international community to push for the diplomatic efforts to reach a political settlement. “The Doha meeting is very significant, and diplomatic efforts would be reinforced.”
Russia has taken the initiative of two-day meeting of representatives of US, Russia China, and Pakistan in Doha, Qatar. UN representatives will also be part of the process to revive the moribund peace dialogue between the Afghan groups. Taliban and Kabul negotiators’ meeting in Tehran few months back was a positive development, as both sides agreed to speed up the peace process. But no follow up action was seen, and reports coming from Afghanistan speak only of fighting.
