Afghan Peace Talks

Not much headway has been made in the peace talks with the Taliban. Unless, of course, you are an optimist. Over the past few months there have been lots of rumors of 'unofficial peace talks' between the Taliban and various entities (China, Pakistan, etc.) but with nothing concrete developing. However, in early July representatives of the Afghan government and the Taliban met in Pakistan for some direct talks (although Taliban spokesmen in Qatar insist the talks were not authorized). The talks will resume after Ramazan. There is very little hope that much will come of this as the Taliban are enjoying success on the battlefield against the ANDSF and it appears that some Taliban groups are opposed to peace talks (Gandhara Blog, Jul 10, 2015) although it appears that Mullah Omar (head of the Quetta Shura) is approving the current peace talks process (Lawfare Blog, Jul 15, 2015).

Michelle Barsa writes on how to fix Afghanistan's broken peace process in an article posted by Foreign Policy (Jul 9, 2015). Halimullah Kousary writes in The Diplomat (Jul 6, 2015) about how Ghani's pivot to Pakistan has fallen flat. On another note, an Afghan university thinks it can teach your way out of a war (Foreign Policy, Jul 1, 2015).