Expecting Peace Making Formula from Destructive Minds: 60 Member High Peace Council Formed

After nine years of bloodshed with the radical Taliban forces, Afghan President has finally sensed that the final solution to the unending fight against an unending war would be talks. Though the last two years have witnessed numerous calls from the President for peace talks, however, Taliban have never taken such offers seriously nor are they, according to reports, currently interested in such talks. This, however, hasn’t stolen the President in Kabul away from his seriousness on the offer. He has taken what appears a practical step to enforce his strategy for peace talks with the rebel groups fighting against his government and the western forces in Afghanistan.

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Recently his office announced the formation of a High/Supreme Peace Council. The size of the council and names of its members will be officially made public after the three day Muslim religious festivities of Eid-ul-Fitr. However, BBC News has reported, according to a member of the council who wasn’t named, about the size of the council. According to the report the council will be composed of 60 members, 7 of them women. The rest will be a combination of ex-Jihadi leaders, ex-Taliban Regime officials, Powerful Tribal Chiefs, and leaders of the political parties.

While it’s believed that Sibghatullah Mujadeedi (First President of Mujahideen Era) will be selected as the chairman of the council, other influential people in the council will be Burhanuddin Rabbani (Mujahideen Era President and Chief of Jamiat-e-Islami and a former warlord), Pir Sayed Ahmed Gilani (Religious Leader), Sheikh Asif Mohsini (The powerful Shiite cleric who drafted the controversial Shiite personal law), Muhammad Mohaqiq (An ethnic Hazara and Leader of Hizb-e-Wahdat ), and certain other Jihadi leaders(all dubbed by the civil societies and the west as warlords during whose rule o f 1992-96 Kabul saw the worst civil, ethnic wars that left behind more than 50,0000 recorded deaths).

Women members of the council are expected to be Siddiqa Balkhi (Senator), Qamar Khosti, Farha Sorabi, and Jameela Mujahid (Journalist).

Taliban will be indirectly represented by their ex-officials namely Wakil Ahmed Mutawakil (Taliban Regime’s Foreign Minister), Arsala Rahmani (Senator), Mosa Hottak (former Taliban commander and currently a senator), Abdul Hakim Mujahid, and Habibullah Fawzi.

Other members of the council named in the report published on BBC News website are the leaders of major political parties like Junbish-e-Milli headed by former Uzbek, Communist-Jihadi leader Abdur Rasheed Dostum. Karzai advisors like Asadullah Wafa and Naimatullah Shahrani will also be among the 60 member Council.

The formation of this council, though proposed by the Peace Consultative Jirga held this summer in Kabul, appears as a serious step towards an engagement of a political dialogue with the fighting factions, the composition, however, is still controversial since it includes the Jihadi leaders who fought first against each other for four long years in the streets of Kabul and then against the Taliban under the label of Northern Alliance till their ouster in 2001. Women have not been given enough shares too and those named are directly or indirectly government loyalists and by no means do they represent the core of Afghan women. Additionally, no present Taliban element/leader has been named as member of the council while the Taliban have already disowned their former leaders who live under the protection of Karzai Regime. Furthermore, there appears to be no guarantors who could guarantee the implementation of the outcomes of these talks. International Community has been ignored. The slowly growing civil society organizations haven’t been taken into confidence leave alone naming at least a couple of representatives from them too.

Now, the questions to be answered will be whether the objectives of this Council will be achieved? Will they be able to make peace and live up to the aspirations of Afghan people? Will Taliban talk to the members of this council or will they ever come to the table talks? What role will they come up for the International Community and forces stationed in Afghanistan? How long will this council work? Does any time frame define the outcomes either? Who will guarantee that the council won’t turn to another platform for massive corruption of funds in the name of peace making? What sort of Afghanistan should the Afghans expect, if by any chance these warlords and the Taliban come to terms? Since the majority of the council members come from or adhere to religious backgrounds, Will Karzai and the International Community afford a return to a fundamentalist and theocratic state? Nearly all named members are over age, Is Karzai planning an Afghanistan for the next generations or the old and aging ones? What will happen to the vibrant Afghan Youths, will they ever be given a chance to plan Afghanistan for themselves as they would wish or should they live as the aged and dying so-called leaders decide? And finally who can guarantee amongst these Islamist Warlords and radical Taliban that the rights of Afghan women won’t be compromised and if compromised who’ll then come out to protect the women from these monsters?