Sunday, July 26, 2015

Peace Process

In his annual Eid message Taliban leader Mullah Omar declared that the current ongoing peace talks are legitimate. But don't get too excited as the Taliban are scoring successes on the battlefield and are unlikely to actually negotiate a settlement. The Taliban leader's response is helpful to Afghan President Ghani who has gone out on a limb in his engagement with Pakistan - giving ample ammunition to many of his critics who believe Pakistan is the root of all evil.

Emily Winterbotham, a research fellow in the International Security Studies Department at RUSI, examines the broad context of the ongoing peace talks in "Afghanistan's Peace Process: A Long Road Ahead", The Diplomat, July 20, 2015.

The next round of peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban representatives will take place in China at the end of the month (July). It is possible that the Afghan government will request a ceasefire. See a news report by ABC News, July 24, 2015.

Split Taliban Camps? The Gandhara Blog has posted an article by Hekmatullah Azamy suggesting the Taliban may be dividing into two camps in a dispute about whether to participate in the peace talks with the Afghan government. Read "The Looming Coup Within the Taliban", July 25, 2015.

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