Image by Community Eye Health Journal photos via FlickrIt is slowly going to dawn on the American policy-makers that it is impossible to sideline the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan, the Pushtuns. The other important lesson for the Americans to learn is that the Taliban now hold sway over most Pushtuns in Afghanistan. This fact is not lost on Afghanistan's neighbours, Pakistan, and Iran, and others in the region including Turkey.Thus the Turkish offer to recognize Taliban as a political force in Afghanistan and Pakistan's endorsement of the Turkish offer represent the fast-evolving balance of power in Afghanistan.
The fact that the Taliban are a regressive force may not be a dominant concern for the neighbouring powers who are now occupied more with restoring normalcy in the region that has suffered significant political turmoil resulting in the the death of hundreds of thousands of Afghanis, Pakistanis, and others. A large number of those killed or injured are civilians caught in the crossfire between the murderous ideologies pursued by the Taliban and the NATO.
The hubris-laden defense policy pursued by Americans and the NATO may soon be exposed for its shallowness and shortsightedness when NATO's departure from the region would restore the balance in the Taliban's favour. One must then ask the question about the utility of a policy that achieved nothing but destroyed the lives and the livelihoods of one of the most deprived people on the planet.
Pakistan would back Taliban office in Turkey: official | World | DAWN.COM
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