The war of Roses-Taliban shows freshness

The war of Roses-Taliban shows freshness

Dr. Jassim Taqui

In a surprise move, the Taliban addressed the US President Donald Trump, asking him to withdraw the American troops from Afghanistan and concentrate on building the badly damaged infrastructure and development of the war-ravaged country since the US invasion on 7^th October 2001 to date. The letter pointed out that war resulted in killing innocent Afghan citizens and the destruction of their crops and villages. It said that the US-led NATO could not digest Afghanistan even as over one trillion dollars was spent and 150,000 troops deployed all over Afghanistan.

The article said that Afghans hoped Trump and his cabinet would not follow in the footsteps of previous White House administrations. Afghanistan has become Washington’s longest military intervention since the Vietnam war.

It has also been the most costly, with more than $100 billion spent. But the country remains wracked by insecurity as the resurgent Taliban dealt Afghan forces serious blows in 2015, the first year they led security operations in Afghanistan, taking over from NATO.

“Even though America has never waged a war so long and passionately intense in its entire history but if she insists on continuing her failed arrogant policies, one can foresee that she will ruin herself beyond repair due to a historically shameful defeat,” the article said.

Trump has yet to make an official pronouncement about U.S. policy in Afghanistan, but the Taliban threat forced his predecessor Barack Obama to slow plans for a drawdown in U.S. troop numbers.

Some 8,400 will remain in the war-torn country this year, compared with 5,500 initially planned.

Despite the harsh tone of the letter, it signals a “ freshness” among Taliban and a willingness to resolve the Afghan civil war through dialogue.

The new policy coincides with the decision of President Trump to give CIA more powers to “ eliminate ISIS from the surface of the earth.”

The COAS Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa is preparing to visit Kabul to hold talks on a joint Pak-Afghan strategy to defeat ISIS and to secure the border between the two countries. This would bring Pakistan, China, Russia and the United States closer in a bid to eradicate the Islamic terrorism, which President Trump has made his top priority.