By
Sankar Ray
The spectre of Anastas Mikoyan, the
renowned leader of Soviet era did haunt the incredible round of negotiations at
the President Hotel in Moscow on 5 and 6 February on modalities of withdrawal
of foreign (not just American) troops. Participants in the consultations
included representatives from India, Iran, China and states of Central Asia.
The Russians have actually been
meditating instead of participation in the dialogue since November last year
when the Talibans visited the Russian capital for the negotiations in the
‘Moscow format’. Russian authorities tactically distanced themselves from
participation in the organization of the unusual meeting.
The 10-member Afghan Taliban team was
led by Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, considered as a key person in the
think-tank of the Taliban movement. Talibans in the consultations too seem
realising the fruitlessness of personification of Islamic radicalism and
terrorism. One of the main brains behind the ‘Moscow format’ is the former
Afghan President Hamid Karzai who is critical of ‘American machinations’ under
the guise of combating ‘Islamic terrorism.
Moscow takes a distinctly cordial
attitude, shelving at least for the time being the memories of bad blood in the
intensely sanguinary battles of the very late 1970s and 1980s. A representative
at the meeting, Omar Nessar, told Radio Liberty correspondent Mumin Shakirov
that the Taliban had independently arranged a visit with all Russian
structures: “I liked Abbas Stanikzai in Moscow, with the talks – they were officially
organized by the Afghan diaspora in Russia – he was satisfied” He told the
agency Interfax, “We agreed on two points: the conditions for the
withdrawal of [foreign] troops and the fact that the Afghan forces will not be
used against them … Details of this will be discussed later in the framework
of two technical groups.”
The presence of Karzai makes the
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, branded by Taliban hardliners as ‘a stooge ‘of
US President Donald Trump, very critically commented on the Moscow as nothing
more than “some kind of fantasy”. Karzai in a query from Radio Free
Europe termed the negotiations as “very good.” Refusing to be
provoked by the current head of Afghan state he chose conciliatory tone:
“We understand that the government should be a party to these
negotiations, we would like them to be here today”. He tweeted that’ the
Islamic Movement of Taliban & the Afghan Govt. have to resolve’.
There is no denying that the Russian
diplomacy is apace as peace-seeker. Present in the negotiations were the
influential ex-governor of the Herat province Ismail Khan and Mohammad Hanif
Atmar, the former Minister of the Interior of Afghanistan and presidential
candidate in the upcoming elections in July. Hanif Atmar is one whom Russia
relies on. Unlike most of the participants in the meeting, during the
Soviet-Afghan war and on the contrary, served in the KhAD , the
counterintelligence of the communist regime that worked closely with the KGB.
His return to the Afghan political scenario is not welcome in the eyes of U.S.
officials.
The spadework for Moscow format was
woven in 2014 by the then Russian ambassador to Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov who
initiated informal multilateral consultations when the USA officially announced
the end of its participation in military operations in the troubled state.
True, Taliban activism and the loss of Afghan government forces aggravated
dramatically. In 2015, the Taliban for some time seized the city of Kunduz in
the north Afghanistan – the first case since 2001 when they managed to seize
the center of one of the provinces. But things began to change with the advent
of ISIS.
The mood of Moscow Factor is captured
in the punch line of Radio Liberty of Moscow, ‘Do not shoot, but talk’. It
reported, “Mainly two topics were discussed: the possible withdrawal of US and
other foreign troops from Afghanistan and future changes in the country’s
constitution, which the Talibans insist. Compared with the 90s, they, at least
in words, have softened their position. The Taliban demand the Islamisation of
the laws of the country (the current Afghan constitution, in their opinion,
“brought from the West and is an obstacle to peace”), but ready to
make concessions – in particular with regard to women’s rights. ‘They will be
able to go to schools and universities, hire themselves” and in general
“have all the necessary rights in accordance with Islam and Afghan
culture’
Stanikzai is optimistic too ,The
Afghan parliamentary deputy Favzia Kufi , present in Moscow, during the
consultations , told the BBC in an interview ,”This is a positive step:
the Taliban, who spoke to the people of Afghanistan, especially women, in the
language of bullets, now use the microphone and want to listen to the voices of
women.” (IPA Service)
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