There is no denying that the Afghan endgame will see the light of the day only when the Afghan peace initiative is Afghan-led and Afghan-owned, but the Taliban are averse to this idea. Taliban are of the view that the current Afghan regime is no more than a puppet and it is the US which has the real mandate to strike any deal with them. So they ruled out the possibility of any peace dialogue in which Afghan government would have any say. On the other hand, the US also seems adamant in its resolve to involve Afghan government in peace negotiations. If the Ashraf Ghani-led Afghan government is sidelined as far as the reconciliation process is concerned, the entire peace process will lose its credibility. Owing to this stand on the part of Taliban, the fourth round of talks between the US and the Taliban, scheduled in Doha, was called off.

It is said that the devil lies in the details and so restoring peace and stability in the war-torn country is not that simple. The 18-year-long Afghan war has destroyed the entire infrastructure of the state. In the absence of a well-organized state machinery, the country is reeling under lawlessness. The Afghan national army along with the US forces failed miserably to safeguard the masses from the wrath of the belligerent groups. To date, the militant groups strike at their will. A couple of weeks ago, Donald Trump announced to drawdown half of the US troops stationed in Afghanistan. Such an abrupt exit of allied forces will do more harm than dgood to the interests of the Afghan government. It is ripe time that all the relevant peace-brokers take stringent and swift measures to resolve the Afghan conundrum as both the sides have shown some leniency and considerable willingness to settle their longstanding issues through dialogue rather than daggers.

MUHAMMAD FAYYAZ,

Mianwali, January 26.